


and they were quarantined

by Anonymous



Category: RPF - Fandom, Real Person Fiction, The Ant Colony RPF
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I promise I know how to write, M/M, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24036382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Popular Twitch streamer Smallant1 visits PointCrow in New York shortly before the whole world goes on shutdown. In the wake of these unfortunate events, what blossoms is something more than a friendship.
Relationships: Smallant/pointcrow, Smallant1/Pointcrow
Comments: 31
Kudos: 67
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: Hey! this fic is actually really embarrassing to read back on so please don't judge it too harshly!  
> Edit 2: Please stop saying this is well written. I know you're lying.

Tanner pushed his brown hair back as he exited the large plane. He found his feet land safely on the rough carpet of the JFK airport, his destination. Other passengers spilled out of the gate behind him. He was finally here. 

His eyes moved to scan the area he had just entered: rows of uncomfortable chairs built into the floor greeted him, in true airport fashion. As he walked past, carry on rattling gently behind him, he took note of the fancy “duty free” shops outside. Tanner’s eyes flicked to the large sign overhead. “Immigration/Baggage Claim” pointed to the left. He took note and followed, submitting himself to the labyrinth that was the JFK airport. 

The soft hum of the air conditioner coupled with the quiet rattle of his luggage was the only sound in the early morning airport. It appeared as though not a lot of people were traveling nowadays. Not that it was a surprise- after the announcement of the COVID pandemic reaching North America, people began to attempt to reduce gatherings of large people. Tanner couldn’t really do the same. He’d already planned out a meetup with his friends long before the news broke. The airlines refused to cancel, no matter what. So he figured it would be okay. There weren’t many cases anyway. 

His friends, of course, were PointCrow (Eric) and his mod squad, who moderated his Twitch streams. He’d taken a week off for this trip, and was very excited to finally unite in person. Since it was so greatly anticipated, they figured it wouldn’t do any harm to not cancel. 

Tanner’s thoughts were interrupted by the familiar ding of the airport announcements and a very clear feminine voice beginning with, “Your attention please.” The announcement itself wasn’t really important- he couldn’t really head, but he thought they said something about some flight beginning to board. It reminded him that he had to get to customs. 

He adjusted his black backpack as he entered the large baggage claim area. The screens overhead displayed incoming flights and their carousel number. Tanner’s was 6, so he hurried there, where the other passengers began to huddle. 

As if on cue, the carousel began to turn on, gently humming as it started moving. There were audible thumps as luggages began being loaded onto the carousel. It quickly was swarmed with shiny black luggages. Tanner struggled to find his own, but eventually he found it- a signature tag with a little ant helped identify it. He began to head towards customs. 

Customs was not as long as he’d anticipated, but it was no surprise, obviously. In the short line, Tanner took the opportunity to pull up his twitter. “Just arrived.” was all he could really come up with, and hit send. Almost immediately likes began to roll in. 

A few minutes later, he felt his phone vibrate. It was Eric: he’d texted, “Are you here?”

“Just going through customs” Tanner texted back, but he couldn’t help but smile. It was undeniable that this was all very exciting. 

“Can’t wait to jump you at the arrival hall” Eric has sent back. 

“I’d like to see you try.” Tanner had gotten pretty close to the front, so he quickly sent a “hold on” before putting his phone away. He got through customs pretty easily, and managed to avoid the weird officers that ask too many questions. 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of boring airport procedures, he managed to find an exit for the maze that was the JFK airport. The giant arrival y’all sign greeted him and his heart rate picked up a little. Tanner began to walk faster. 

He scanned the somewhat large crowd of faces, some holding signs and papers with names. None of them were his friends. He waited a minute. Then another. Where were they? Was he at the wrong area? He took his luggage to a corner and pulled out his phone. 

“Hey where are y”

He was cut off by hands seizing his shoulders and shaking him violently. “Tanner!” a masculine voice yelled out. Tanner found himself meeting a familiar gaze- one he’d never seen in person before up until now. It was Eric, whose face was scrunched up in delirious excitement. He couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Hi!” he said, not realizing that others were gathering around him. People were hugging him from all sides. It finally sank in- his mod squad was here. 

“You didn’t even notice my big sign?” Abby asked, with a hint of hurt in her voice. She held a large poster board, with a pcrowDoodle and a cute drawing of some smallant emote, but it was hard to discern which. 

“I love it.” he replied with a laugh, and he really meant it. “Thank you.”

“Aw, look who it is!” Silver playfully slapped Tanner on the back. “Glad to see you didn’t die on the way here.”

“Me too.” 

“I can’t believe you’re the last person here! How long did it take?” Morgan asked. 

“A long time. Crossing borders is really tedious.”

“Imagine having to do that.” Josie joked, and they all laughed. “Seriously, how did I get here before you?”

It felt like a swarm of voices buzzed around him, speaking pleasant nonsense about how excited they were and what they were going to do. Tanner’s face hurt from smiling as it really set in that he was there. He couldn’t wait to do everything. 

His eyes met Eric and he knew Eric felt the same. The two of them grinned, and suddenly Tanner began to laugh. He couldn’t help it. Then they all began to laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Tanner’s numb hands gingerly fumbled with his key card and pressed it to the hotel door. It clicked with a quiet buzz, permitting him entry. He pulled down the cold metal handle and entered the room. 

The room was icy cold, presumably due to the air conditioner that was always put on blast in hotel rooms. He took a little bit to take in his surroundings. A bathroom immediately greeted him on the left, and a large bed was pushed to the left wall. On the right, a large TV playing some default screen played an instrumental track. 

Tanner let out a sigh and kicked off his shoes. He dropped off his bags in the closet on the right, and immediately jumped onto the bed like a child. The sheets were soft and cool. 

There was the sound of movement behind him. He looked up to see Eric, also with his bags, in the entryway. 

“What’s up?” Tanner asked. 

Eric seemed a little put off. He let out a click with his tongue. “Hmm.”

“What is it?”

“There’s supposed to be two beds.”

Oh, yeah. Tanner was supposed to be sharing a room with Eric. How did he forget? “Do you want to call the front desk?”

“Well…” Eric sighed and set his bags down. “I guess we could. “ He picked up the phone on the nightstand and pressed a few buttons. Tanner could hear a faint muffled voice answer. 

“Hello? Hi, we believe there’s been an issue. We booked a, uh, a room with two beds and there’s only one.” A pause. “Uh huh. Well, is there any way we could get somewhere closer-“ another pause. The voice answering was audible.

Eric and Tanner made awkward eye contact. Tanner raised an eyebrow. Eric made a weird face.

“Oh. All right. Thank you.” Eric hung up. He set the phone down and sighed. 

“What is it?”

“Well. There’s no other rooms.”

Tanner shifted to sit up straight. “How is that possible?”

“I know, right? Well, it looks like some other people weren’t able to have their flights cancelled, and I guess this is a pretty popular hotel.”

“I mean, yeah, that’s why we chose it.” 

Eric let out a sad little laugh. “You’re not wrong.” 

“It’s not that big of a deal, right? We can split the bed.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’m just a little annoyed.” He sank onto the bed on the right side of Tanner. “I guess I’ll take this side?”

“All right.” Tanner shifted to give Eric more space. “That should work.” 

The sound of knocking on the door interrupted them. Both Tanner and Eric instinctively got up and opened the door. Tanner, the taller of the two, got there first and pulled it open.

Abby was there, grinning. “Are you guys done unpacking?” 

They looked at each other. “I think so?” Tanner replied. 

She looked at the room. “It’s no mod mansion, is it?”

“Hey, you’re the one who lives here. Why didn’t you invite us to _your_ mod mansion?” 

“Are you kidding? You guys wouldn’t be able to _fit_!”

Eric laughed. “We wouldn’t know until we try!”

“I would rather not- well anyway, the other mods want to go out. We were all gonna figure out where we want to go. Can you go downstairs?”

“Um, yeah.” Tanner looked to Eric to confirm, and Eric nodded. Tanner grabbed his key and they filed out of the room.

Downstairs in the lobby, the other mods were talking amongst themselves.

“Yeah, that’s everyone.” Abby called to them as the three approached. The mods turned to include them.

“We’ve decided we might want to go to Central Park.” Josie explained.

“Central Park? Won’t there be a lot of people there?” Eric asked.

Sni butted in. “There’s going to be a lot of people regardless.” 

“Well, what are the other options?” 

“I think Silver suggested going to a museum.” Misa added.

“Hmm. Are we going to be really blatant tourists?”

“It’s up to you.” 

Tanner turned to Abby. “You live here. What’s something you would recommend?”

“What am I, a chef?” The group laughed.

“You would know what’s fun and not fun, right?”

Abby bit her lip. “I guess. To be completely honest, I haven’t gone to all of the places either. I think we should go to the Bronx Zoo.”

“Is it any good?” Maizey said.

“I don’t know, I’ve never been there.”

“All in favor?” Eric raised his hand. They all seemed to be in agreement. “All right, the zoo it is. How far away is it?”

“I think it would take a while to get there by subway, but it should be fine.” 

“How long exactly?”

“We won’t know unless we go.”

Eric and Tanner locked eyes in agreement. “To the subway it is, then.” 

As anticipated, the ride there did take a little while. It was a little bit of a hassle to transport such a large group, and no doubt they were being stared at as they all huddled onto the subway. Tanner couldn’t help but feel just a little bit like a spectacle, but he brushed it off as it couldn’t be helped. 

The group rolled up to the Bronx Museum with some difficulty. They all had to do another head count as they arrived (“I feel like I’m on a field trip,” Eric had commented) and it was bitterly cold. Tanner was afraid he might not have packed enough warm clothing as the cold began to set in. He was shivering as they began to enter the zoo.

Eric looked back at him. “Are you cold?” He asked, almost teasingly.

“Shut up.” Tanner bumped shoulders with him playfully.

“No, seriously.” Eric replied with a grin. 

“No, I’m just vibrating with excitement. I’m not cold, I’m burning up.”

“You could have just said yes.”

“You know that’s not what I do.”

“Yeah.” They began to lag behind the group, which was heading toward some sort of exhibit. “Did you bring another jacket?”

“This one is fine.” Tanner shifted his jacket around. 

“Well, clearly it’s not. Do you want my jacket or?”

“It’s fine, thanks.” He tried to warm himself up.

“Okay.” came the dubious reply, and the conversation ended. They walked briskly to catch up with the group. 

“Look at the sea lions!” Sucrose called to them. In a shallow, circular pool, sea lions splashed and played. Abby looked mesmerized. 

“That one’s name is Oliver.” Eric pointed to one on the right, which seemed to be clapping. 

“Okay bitch.” the actual Oliver said, gripping the metal fence that separated the group from the pool. Eric laughed. 

Maizey pointed to one in the center. “That one looks like it’s drowning.”

“Sea lions can’t drown. They’re aquatic.” Silver replied.

“I was just _saying_.”

“God, I don’t envy them.” Sni mumbled. “It must be freezing in there.”

“Do sea lions feel that kind of cold? They have blubber, right?”

Their conversation seemed to fall into the background as Tanner opened up his pamphlet that they’d taken from the entry. The magazine-like paper crinkled as it unfolded into a large map. The bug carousel caught his eye. He was a bug, right? It was in the name. Did they have an ant? He squinted at the tiny preview. 

A gentle finger tapped his shoulder. “Ant.” a voice called. Tanner looked up. It was Eric. “Sorry-I meant Tanner. You’re still shivering.”

Tanner began to fold his map closed defensively. “Am not.” He tried to consciously stop shivering, as he became suddenly aware of the fact.

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Who said I was lying? Do you see me shivering right now?”

Without another word, Eric took one hand and placed it on Tanner’s neck. His hand was freezing. Tanner immediately recoiled.

“What the hell?” he asked, ducking instinctively. Eric laughed. 

“Well, you’re cold now, aren’t you?” In retaliation, Tanner reached out his icy hand and touched Eric’s cheek with it. Eric yelped. It was Tanner’s turn to laugh. 

In a swift motion, Eric grabbed Tanner’s jacket with one hand and slapped him on the neck. Tanner struggled, and attempted to use his other hand to do the same. They were both laughing. And cold. 

To their left, Abby raised an eyebrow at the pair. “They’re like two teenage boys.”

“What did you expect?” Silver replied, unsurprised.

“Jesus. _They_ should be the ones in the enclosure.” Morgan sighed, and the mods chuckled amongst themselves.

“Hey!” Josie called to the boys. “Stop necking each other, we’re in public.” The two boys looked at each other and laughed. Eric let go of Tanner’s jacket.

“Sorry!” Eric called back, then turned to Tanner. “But for real, dude. Wear a better jacket.” He pulled out his bag and dug through it for a second. With some difficulty, he produced a thin hoodie. “It’s not much, but I mean. It’s better than nothing.”

“If it keeps you from touching me with your cold hands, I’ll take it.” Tanner replied, grabbing it with a nod. 

As they caught up, Tanner suggested going to the bug carousel. The group ended up exploring a few more places, but eventually they caved. Tanner practically raced to it, the group trailing behind. By the time they’d caught up, he’d already picked out a honeypot ant as his steed.

“How on brand of you.” Misa commented as she climbed onto her own insect. The others also followed suit. 

“Thanks. I’m honestly glad that they even have one.” The ride operator began their announcements and the ride began to whir. Within seconds, they were off. It must have looked ridiculous to others, but none of them really cared. The childish music set the background for their laughter. 

A few rotations later and they all felt dizzy. The carousel was probably going slower than Tanner felt, but his bobbing back and forth probably didn’t help. Abby gripped the carousel tightly, and was almost screaming. Eric was wildly grabbing at the people near him, as if trying to scare them. The others laughed and slapped his hand away. 

The carousel began to slow. Eric began to calm down and the others did the same. The ride operator’s voice clicked on, telling them where the exit was. One by one, the group filed out of the carousel area. 

By the time they’d seen all they’d wanted to see, the sun had set, and it began to get dark enough that the street lights had begun to switch on. After another brief head count, the group headed onto the crowded subway.

Safely back at the hotel, the group all squeezed into the elevator with some difficulty and headed up into their rooms. The silent hallways greeted them as the cold metal doors slid open. Tanner let out a sigh as he fumbled with his key once more. 

He was unable to open the door before Eric, who pulled out his key with ease and tapped it on the door handle. It whirred gently, and Eric pulled it open. 

“I could’ve gotten that.”

“Oh, sorry, sir.” Eric replied with a fake british accent. “I thought you were used to people doing all the work for you.”

“I don’t have a butler! Shut up.” He elbowed Eric and entered the room. Eric simply laughed.

“God, I haven’t had time to check my phone all day.” Tanner muttered, kicking off his shoes and taking off his jacket. “Anything fun happen?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had time either.” Eric laid on his side of the bed, scrolling through Twitter. 

“Hopefully everyone is coping with no streams this week. Bet my subs are gonna drop so much.” Tanner moved to jump on the bed. It bounced a bit. He turned to Eric, but he seemed extremely engrossed in his phone. “Are….you good?”

“Oh, shit. Hold on.” Eric adjusted the way he was sitting to sit up straight in bed. He began typing rapidly. There was a tangible shift in the energy of the room.

“Um….okay.” Tanner shifted around in bed to lazily grab the remote. He picked up the thin paper with the channels and looked for one worth watching. He couldn’t stop shooting glances at Eric, whose agitation was growing tangible.

The news wasn’t something Tanner was particularly interested in watching, but it was the first channel that clicked on. A lady with a level speaking voice greeted him, but he couldn’t really hear and didn’t really care. He was about to click off, but there was something about the woman’s mannerisms that made him think that something important was being said.

“Important news that just came in: Governor Cuomo…” Tanner couldn’t concentrate on her voice. News clips flashed behind her. “...earlier today that…” Was there something that happened in New York? Governor Cuomo was the governor of New York, or so he thought.

“Fuck.” Eric said finally, looking troubled now. “What are we gonna do?"

“Is everything okay?” There was a gnawing in the back of Tanner's head. 

“No. Look.” Eric flipped his phone to show Tanner his screen. On the bright screen was what appeared to be a news article. Tanner squinted his eyes at the print. 

The title, in large black font, read, “New York to Go Into Lockdown”. The date was today.

Shit. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok some notes. i didn't write in (m)any crow mods because i don't know them (as) well, and i feel like it would be rude to mischaracterize them. revisions have been made. also, i'm sorry abby's art is amazing <3  
> 

The lobby of the hotel was silent. Early morning light spilled through the tall windows. Tanner was alone. Or-almost alone. In the corner, Abby was on the phone. He tried to keep his hands busy, looking through some app, any app on his phone. As he sat on a leather chair, his leg bounced restlessly. 

Abby’s quiet voice carried through the empty lobby. She was gently muttering, yet he could hear her clearly. Most of the hotel had been cleared out, and Tanner felt like a sore thumb. “Okay. Uh huh. You’ll text when you get there? Okay. Bye.” She clicked her phone off and turned to Tanner.

“Is Misa at the airport?” he was surprised by his own voice at first. 

“Yes, she’ll be boarding in an hour. That’s everyone who could go home.” Tanner didn’t mention that _he_ couldn’t go home.

“Who’s left?”

Abby sighed. “Me, obviously, you, Eric, and…” she thought for a moment. “Maybe Sucrose, Silver, Sni and Oli? I think that’s it.” She shrank a little. “I..have to go home soon.”

“I know.” Tanner felt like a stone. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“We all thought the same.” There appeared to be some hesitation. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. We knew it could be a possibility.”

It was his turn to sigh. “What about us?”

It was unfair, perhaps, to expect her to answer. “You guys will have to wait until there’s an available flight to take.”

“Do you think it’ll take long?” another unfair question. 

“Could be. You might…” Abby stopped herself before she finished the thought. But Tanner knew. _You might stay here till quarantine ends._ It wasn’t something he wanted to entertain. “Well, it’ll probably take a week or so.”

“Thanks.” His voice was soft. It felt as though the world wouldn’t let him raise his voice. 

Abby nervously looked to the door. “I should go.” 

“Please, go.” 

She looked at him. “I would come visit, but I’m not even supposed to be here. I was afraid to even come today, with the whole shelter in place notification this morning.” 

Tanner thought of his goodbyes with the others earlier that day. “Goodbye.” he tried not to feel too upset. 

“Bye. Promise I’ll call. Promise.” She was out the door before he could reply. The light, like an entrance to heaven, spilled open. She let it consume her.

Tanner was a lone pillar in the lobby. He stared at the door for just a moment. Where did he go from here?

His hotel room. He had to go to his hotel room.

By the time he’d entered, Eric was standing next to the bed. It appeared as if his bags had all been packed, like he was ready to leave. 

“Tanner.” It was the first word out of his mouth.

“Eric.” came the reply. 

“Are...Is everyone sent home?”

“Almost everyone.” It was hard to keep eye contact. “I don’t know when the next flight will be.” _Or if it’ll even come._

“So now what?”

“I don’t know.” There had to be something they could do. “We..could do something to pass the time. Maybe talk to the other mods that aren’t sent home yet.”

“I don’t..” Eric looked at the floor. “I don’t really feel like doing anything.”

“I know.” 

What else was there to say?

“We can’t…do anything about it. We should make the most of it.” Tanner didn’t realize he was looking at his feet.

Silence.

Tanner reached for the tv remote blindly. There had to be something he could watch. He felt a gentle hand touch his. He looked up to meet Eric’s apologetic gaze. “I don’t...really want to watch tv right now.” 

“Okay.” He retracted his hands. Tanner sank onto the bed. More silence. How dearly he wished to fill the empty space. But for now, he could share this _thing_ , this silence with Eric. 

Eric sat down with him. He was silent once more. Tanner felt like he wasn’t allowed to look at him. It was unfair. 

The silence amplified Eric’s voice. It scared Tanner. “I’m sorry. Usually people don’t…see me like this.”

“It’s okay.” If he could reach out and grasp the words he wanted to say, the things he needed Eric to know, he would have done it. 

His fingers gently brushed against Eric’s. The contact made his heart thump, for reasons he couldn’t quite tell. Should he make small talk? 

Eric let out a long sigh. “God.” was the only word he said. 

Tanner couldn’t stand this sadness. 

It was strange. He lifted a finger. And then another. Then their hands were touching, Tanner’s on top of Eric’s. He felt breathless, like he’d finished crying. _Is this okay?_ He wanted to say. 

Eric’s hand moved. Tanner could have jumped out of his skin at that moment. Gently, wordlessly, he intertwined hands with Tanner. 

Why didn’t he just say something?

He stood up. “Let’s go talk to the others. It’s better than being stuck in this room.”

“Yeah.” How was Tanner supposed to interpret that? Was he uncomfortable? He stood up as well. As Eric turned his back to him, to head towards the door, Tanner just _looked_ at him. He wanted to look him in the eyes the same way.

They knocked on Silver and Sni’s room. Silver was the one to answer. “You guys heading out?” he asked.

“No.” was the reply. _Not yet, anyway._

“Oh. What’s up? We’re just talking with the others in the gc.”

“The what?” Eric butted in.

“The group chat. We’re making sure everyone gets home. Look.” He pulled out his phone and opened the messaging app. The group chat appeared to be going a mile a minute.

“Are we...in that?” 

“Why don’t you check?”

Tanner pulled out his phone. Nothing. “Um...no.”

“Hold on. I’ll add you.” Sni said from her bed (He noticed they had separate beds, which was unfair). Tanner felt a buzz from his phone.

_Olicherries: oh not this asshole_

_Olicherries: can you unadd them pls_

_SilverDrMario: no_

_Sniearrs: i added them btw_

Tanner laughed. He sat on the chair in the room and began to type.

_Smallant1: I just wanted to know if you guys were home safe_

_MisaStarwise: i’m still at the airport but my flight’s in 10 min_

_Littlerootlodge: anyone overseas is on a plane rn i’m pretty sure_

_Jjjjjjjosie: doesn’t mean i can’t talk_

_AbbyBagel: licherally shut up innit_

_isaacmoocow: this group chat was a mistake_

“God. They’re making my phone go insane.” Eric sighed from the other side of the room. Sni laughed.

_Sssucrose: are you losers having fun in the hotel_

_astate0fmind: yea go rob a bank for us_

_Arvinam: that was part of our itinerary right_

_Amaizeying: i wish_

_sethstone32: speedrun going to jail%_

_Lycel: i have the wr for that_

“Actually yeah, what _are_ we doing?” Silver asked. 

“Are you seriously considering robbing a bank?” Sni asked without looking up.

“ _No_ , obviously.” He sighed and jumped off his bed. “Let’s go somewhere.”

“Like where?” Eric looked up.

“Does this hotel like...have a gym or something?”

“We are not all working out together. That’s weird.” Sni muttered.

“Why not? You don’t want to see my thick abs?” Eric flexed. 

Sni fake gagged. “No. Ew.” 

“They might have a pool. I want to go to a pool.” Silver started dumping things out of his luggage. 

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. It’s New York.” Tanner watched Silver toss things around.

“Okay, and? Just wear what you have on now.”

“That’s _weird_. What if there’s other people there?” 

He tilted his head, almost mockingly. “Would you rather stay here and talk to the group chat?”

As if on cue, Tanner’s phone buzzed. 

“Fair.” He sighed and got up, looking at Eric and Sni. Sni shrugged and slid off her bed. 

“Why not?” Eric sighed as well. He stopped leaning against the wall. “Where is this pool?”

“I don’t know. We should go look.” Silver was already heading towards the door. 

“Are we gonna tell Oliver and Sucrose?” 

Silver turned around and made a dramatic show of pulling out his phone. In the most exaggerated way he could, he began to type.

All of their phones dinged.

_SilverDrMario: ayo anyone who’s still at the hotel we’re going swimming come join us or don’t_

“Can we please go now?” Silver asked, with exasperation. 

“No.” Tanner replied sarcastically as he walked towards the door.


	4. Chapter 4

It took longer than originally anticipated to find the pool. None of them really knew what they were doing. At first they hoped some sort of promotional pamphlet was in their rooms, but most of it was activities the group could do in New York. They opted for piling into the elevator and looking at the stops. There was a label next to a stop that stated recreation was on the fifth floor. However, the elevator opened up to a very fancy floor with some sort of front desk. They had to do some kind of paperwork to use the pool, which was very awkward considering none of them were wearing swimsuits. Tanner hoped the staff weren’t shooting them dirty looks when they began to head towards the pool.

From what the staff at the desk had told them, the pool was just on the right. The right hallway didn’t look like an entrance to a pool. It had lots of doors and rooms with glass walls that looked like places to work out. Still, they trusted the staff and kept walking. Oliver complained that they should have just gone back and asked for clarification.

Eventually, the end of the hall had a large door with a small sign that simply read “pool”. There appeared to be bathrooms and lockers to the right and left, but after some discussion they all came to the conclusion that there was really nothing for them to store. Silver swiped his key card and the door swung open.

The pool was fairly standard. It had about 8 lanes, although 4 of them had been removed to make a more open pool area. The water seemed to be fairly warm. A little bit of steam floated on its surface, gliding gently to one side. There also was a hot tub, which bubbled quietly. Overall, there was no one there. It was completely deserted. 

“Wow.” Silver said, his voice echoing through the room. “This is perfect.”

Sni began to claim some chairs that were scattered around the deck. She dumped a handful of towels that had been in the bathrooms. “So who’s getting in first?”

They looked at each other. “How cold is it?” Oliver asked. 

Silver had already begun stripping off his shoes. “Well if none of y’all are going in, I am.” He dumped his shoes to the side of one of the chairs and began emptying his pockets. 

“Are you going to take off your shirt?” Sucrose asked. 

“I mean, yeah. Should I not?”

“Yeah, do it. I want to see your rock hard abs.” Eric replied, kicking off his shoes.

“Why don’t you do the same, shorty? We all know you got cake.” Silver pulled off his shirt effortlessly. 

“You’re literally from Wisconsin. Nothing you say matters to me.” But Eric took off his shirt anyway. 

“Those...are your abs?” Sucrose asked, teasingly. 

“What?” He flexed. Sucrose rolled her eyes. 

Silver stretched his arms upward, as if yawning, then assumed a stance that could only mean that he was about to dash.

“There’s no running on the pool d-” Sni was cut off by Silver running as fast as he could to cannonball into the pool. The water ascended like a pillar, swallowing him up. Droplets sprayed the pool deck indiscriminately, soaking those who were unlucky enough to be close. 

“Gah!” Sni flinched from the water. “You’re gonna get us kicked out.”

“And where are they gonna make us go? Outside?” Silver bobbed up and down, splashing water everywhere. His shorts stuck to his skin, which hindered his ability to swim. 

“He _is_ right.” Tanner conceded, stripping off his shirt. Silver wolf whistled and Tanner wanted to tackle him. 

Eric was the next to jump in. He tucked himself into a ball and aimed straight at Silver, who yelled and dove under the water to avoid him. Sni, who chose not to run on the deck, followed suit, and dove straight towards Silver. 

“Why is everyone ganging up on _me_?” Silver sputtered, spitting out water. Tanner laughed and jumped in feet first. Oliver and Sucrose dove in as well. 

Eric was now clinging to Silver, as if trying to drown him. The water was just deep enough that Eric couldn’t stand, but Tanner could stand with just his head above the water. Silver flailed and tried to pull Eric off, but he was grabbing onto his neck. 

“Help!” Silver cried out. Tanner shared a look with the others and laughed, but chose to wade slowly towards them. He reached his hands out and hugged Eric’s waist from the back, pulling them apart. Eric kicked and yelled, but was largely weakened by his delirious laughter. 

“Let me go!” he tried to turn around, but Tanner held tight. Without a word, he crouched under the water and pretended to slam Eric into the pool floor, as if wrestling. Eric’s screams were largely muffled by the water, only escaping in bubbles. 

Now someone else was grabbing him from the back. He couldn’t tell who, but they grabbed him from his armpits and pulled him out of the water, weakening his grip in the process. Eric swam free and surfaced, breathing heavily. 

“Asshole!” Eric splashed water in Tanner’s direction. Tanner surfaced with the person grabbing him, spitting out water. He attempted to push himself away from the person, but only managed to flail. He settled for kicking water in Eric’s direction, who turned away and continued to splash. 

“Let him go, Sni!” Oliver called from Tanner’s left. So _Sni_ was the one holding him. Sni laughed, her hair getting everywhere. She released him, and he began to swim towards Eric.

There was a splash from the right. Sucrose was splashing everyone she could. As Silver began to swim near her, she shrieked and swam backwards. 

“What? I’m not gonna do anything.” he asked, continuing to swim.

“Yeah, right!” She splashed water at his face, but it was no use. He grabbed Sni in a bear hug and she yelled again as she was lifted fully out of the water. “Let me go!”

Silver dropped her from the highest he could hold her, as she shrieked and laughed. A large splash blinded them all.

Meanwhile, Tanner had begun walking as menacingly as he could towards Eric. Eric was trying to dodge, pressed up against the pool wall and repeating “No, no, please,” as he laughed. 

He felt something grab his leg and pull. Tanner was so surprised that he recoiled and dove underwater. Oliver surfaced and took a breath, chuckling. 

Eric pushed against the wall as if doing a push off. He clung to Tanner with his arms and legs. Tanner attempted to stand up and push him off, but Eric was like a barnacle. Exhausted, he opted for submerging them both. It worked. Eric began to panic and Tanner slipped free. Eric did not.

Tanner surfaced and turned to Eric, who still appeared to be moving his limbs wildly. He looked around. Everyone else appeared to be preoccupied. Then he realized: they were on the deeper end of the pool. While he wasn’t able to tell, Eric was much smaller and definitely did. He sighed and dove under. 

As gently as he could, Tanner faced Eric and gingerly lifted him up by his waist, rising to the surface together.

Eric gasped as he broke the surface of the water, opening his eyes.

“Sorry.” Tanner said, apologetically. He felt a twinge of guilt. 

“It’s okay.” replied Eric, breathing heavily. He sighed and swung his arms around Tanner’s neck, who began to guide both of them to the shallow end.

Eric’s breathing began to steady. He climbed out of the pool one leg at a time, turning around to dangle his legs in the water.

“Are you okay?” Tanner asked softly.

“I’m good. Just tired.” Eric cracked a tired smile. “I don’t know how you guys can have so much energy.”

“Do you want me to get out?”

He paused, as if considering it. “If you want to.” That was an ambiguous answer. 

Tanner looked to the side. “Do you want to get into the hot tub?” 

Eric looked to where he was looking. “Actually, yeah. Why not?” He sighed and began to stand up, kicking up water as he lifted them out. Tanner followed him.

The hot tub was pretty large as far as hot tubs went. It was very clearly much warmer than the pool, as the steam was very noticeable and it bubbled louder as they neared.

Eric dipped one of his feet in tentatively. He recoiled for just a moment, then, with some hesitation, began to submerge his whole leg, sighing with relief. 

“Ah.” he exhaled as he stepped in, then began to sit. “The water’s really hot. Come on.” Eric waved Tanner over.

Tanner obeyed. He slowly entered the water, sitting down on the deck before sliding in gently. Eric was right- the water was soothingly warm. He closed his eyes and laid his head back, letting the bubbles massage him. 

“An-Tanner?” Eric said, obviously slipping up his name.

“Yeah?” he didn’t open his eyes.

“Do you think you would be okay with this?”

“With what?” his eyes fluttered open. Eric looked apologetic.

“With...I don’t know. We don’t know how long we’re gonna be here..” his voice seemed to falter with that last part. “I don’t know. Would you be okay with living somewhere like this?” 

“I…” How _was_ Tanner supposed to answer? “I don’t know. We’ve only been to one place.”

“Yeah.” Eric looked straight ahead. His eyes seemed to unfocus. “I’m not sure where I’m going with this. But Abby said, like, she was going to invite us over.”

“Really?” Tanner shifted. “When?”

“Tomorrow, I think. She said so in the group chat.”

“Oh.”

Silence. The water bubbled. The others splashed behind them. 

“But if you _could_ live here- or, somewhere _like_ this...would you?”

Tanner was unsure why he was being asked this. “I don’t know.” He turned to look ahead, at the large window that displayed the smoggy skyline that was New York. Would he live somewhere like this? It was loud and crowded. “I would...have to see. And I guess our chances for doing that are long gone.”

“Yeah.” Eric echoed his past sentiment. He seemed to be slowly scooting towards Tanner. “I was just wondering. It’s quite nice looking, you know.”

“And you’d be okay with the subway?” 

“The subway...it sucks. Yeah, I don’t know.” Eric let out a little laugh. “It’s just...what _if_ , you know? Abby lives here. It must be nice if _Abby_ lives here. And what if I lived here? And y-” he stopped himself. “I dunno.”

“I know.” Tanner thought he did. He wished Eric would talk more. Maybe he could understand it more. 

“Hey, since when did you two get into the hot tub? Wait for us!” Silver interrupted their moment by yelling from behind them, and there was the sound of splashing. Tanner turned to see the others climbing out of the pool recklessly. One by one, they all entered the hot tub, sighing in content.

A little while later they climbed out, soaking wet, their clothes sticking to their skin as they dried themselves off using towels. Tanner felt a little bad as they walked out of the pool and into the lobby, still dripping a little bit as they all crammed themselves into the elevator, chattering about anything and everything. 

The sun had begun to set, as was evident as they stepped out of the elevator. The windows provided little light, displaying a city beginning to sleep. It was at this time when the group began to split up. They said their quiet goodbyes as each pair entered their rooms, the doors clicking softly in unison.

Tanner finally found the time to check his phone as he entered the bathroom and stripped off his soaking clothes. After a quick hunt for a fresh outfit, he found a good place for them to dry and started running the bath as he was in it.

_PointCrow: oh god my battery is so drained_

_Lycel: where were y’all we were so bored_

_Isaacmoocow: yeah we were trying to spam so you would come online_

_SilverDrMario: we went to the pool_

_Sethstone32: so we saw_

_Arvinam: did you guys have fun_

_Smallant1: no. it sucked and we are all mad at each other_

_Amaizeying: wait actually_

_Olicherries: no he’s being sarcastic_

_Sniearrs: it was really fun they had a hot tub_

_Astate0fmind: wait you guys didn’t bring a swimsuit did you_

_Sssucrose: nope_

_MisaStarwise: that seems like a bad idea_

_SilverDrMario: it was_

There was a knock on the bathroom door. “Can you hurry up?” Eric asked. “I have stuff to do too, you know.”

“No.” Tanner replied sarcastically. 

_Smallant1: anyone wanna switch roommates_

_Sniearrs: please_

“Hey!” Tanner heard Eric say from behind the door. 

_PointCrow: the feeling is mutual_

_Jjjjjjjosie: you seem to be having fun_

After a little bit, Tanner pulled the drain, which swallowed up all the water with a gurgle. He stepped out, dripping, and dried himself before putting on some clean clothes. It felt good to finally wear dry clothes. He sighed and unlocked the door with an audible click.

“Finally!” Eric sighed and got up from the bed. The tv was on, so Tanner switched places with Eric. He laid on the bed and Eric entered the bathroom. 

_SilverDrMario: wait sni what did you say_

_Sniearrs: i said i wanted to switch roommates_

_SilverDrMario: rude_

_AbbyBagel: Seems like you guys are getting along fine_

_SilverDrMario: if you hear screaming from our room mind your own business_

_Smallant1: oh god what are you going to do_

_Sniearrs: HELP_

Tanner didn’t hear anything from the other rooms, but was growing increasingly concerned. 

_Littleroot: are you guys okay?_

_Olicherries: I didn’t hear anything_

_PointCrow: me neither_

_SilverDrMario: nothing happened dw about it_

_MisaStarwise: no, i think i will_

_Sniearrs: he hit me with a pillow_

Tanner heard the bathtub being drained. The sun had set a long time ago, and the television was merely background noise. By this time, he’d already climbed under the warm covers. He heard a click as Eric exited the bathroom. 

Tanner set his phone on his nightstand and left the television running. He supposed now was a good time to start heading off to bed. As he rolled onto his side, the lights flicked off. Tanner assumed this was Eric’s doing. Another click. The television had been turned off.

He felt a sinking feeling on the other side of the bed. Eric was presumably also heading off to bed. There was a shifting.

“Tanner?” his voice was almost surprising.

“Yes?” he muttered, half awake.

“I meant what I said, about moving here.” His voice was soft, as if he was afraid to speak. His words were spilling out of his mouth recklessly, endlessly. “I want to move somewhere. I was thinking...it might be nice to live here.”

Tanner was unsure how to respond. “It might.” he mumbled. He felt bad. He didn’t want to seem like he wasn’t paying attention. 

“It would be nice to live with friends, don’t you think?”

“It would.” he agreed softly.

He heard a gentle sigh. There was another shift. “Good night, Tanner.” Eric whispered quietly.

“Good night.” Tanner felt himself begin to slip into sleep. 

He thought he heard Eric say something else, but the words were too incomprehensible to understand as the darkness swallowed him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trust me i hate chat fic so much but it's kinda necessary. also i wont be adding any mods unless they explicitly ask me to. if you don't want to be in this fic, feel free to dm me <3


	5. Chapter 5

Tanner was awoken by his phone’s alarm. Its familiar sound immediately pulled him out of his slumber. He let out an annoyed groan and rolled over with his eyes still closed, blindly grabbing for his phone. With some difficulty, he managed to turn off his alarm and roll over again. 

Tanner wasn’t completely awake, and didn’t particularly feel like getting up. His eyelids felt heavy, and the jet lag had made it so he’d woken up three hours before his alarm. Despite this, he still felt a slight sense of urgency. It was morning. He had to get up.

He heard a quiet rustling on the other side of the bed. Eric groaned and muttered something, but he didn’t appear to be saying anything in particular. Tanner felt a little bit bad that he’d woke Eric up. 

Tanner laid in bed for a few moments more before finding the strength to get up. His eyes gently opened. He let out a sigh, and sat up, letting his head loll back. As Tanner swung his legs around his side of the bed to get up, he heard Eric get up as well.

He picked up his phone, which was charging on his nightstand. It was 8:03. There appeared to be a few more notifications in the group chat.

_ SilverDrMario: anyone awake _

_ Sniearrs: no _

_ Isaacmoocow: unfortunately _

_ Olicherries: well i am now _

_ AbbyBagel: morning everyone _

_ Sssucrose: morning _

_ SilverDrMario: anyone know if this place serves breakfast _

_ Lycel: look at you guys _

_ Littleroot: steal some tableware for us _

_ Sniearrs: i checked. They serve breakfast 7-11 _

_ Olicherries: when are we meeting _

_ Sssucrose: how about 9:30-10 ish _

_ SilverDrMario: cool _

“Good morning.” Eric’s strained voice mumbled. Tanner turned to see Eric lazily rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

“Morning.” was his reply. He clicked his phone off. “I’m showering first.” 

“Aww, no fair.” Eric reached for his own phone.

“I got up first. Also, we’re meeting to have breakfast at 9:30 ish.”

“Great.” He watched Tanner get up and open his suitcase. “Any flights?”

“Um…” Tanner hadn’t actually checked. “I don’t know yet. I should check.” He wondered when he’d get the email for a ticket home.

“Well..” a pause from Eric. “Yeah, I didn’t get anything yet.”

“I’ll check later.” Tanner pulled out a respectable outfit and entered the bathroom for a quick shower. The warm water helped wake him up and got him ready for the day.

The elevator labels said that the supposed lounge was on the second floor, so off to the second floor they went. The elevator opened up to some sort of desk, behind which appeared to be the breakfast area. The staff sitting at the desk nodded cordially as the two headed past. 

The breakfast area had tables and tables full of goods, ranging from delicate pastries to perfectly cooked eggs. To one side, rows of tables and sofas were arranged, facing windows that displayed the skyline.

It wasn’t hard to find the others. The group stood out like a sore thumb. Oliver had arranged a stack of pancakes a mile high and covered it in whipped cream and syrup. The others appeared to be looking at the monstrosity with contempt. It looked like it could fall at any second.

Sucrose spotted the two and waved vigorously. “Tanner!” She called, and they eagerly joined.

“You guys seem to be having fun.” Eric pulled out a chair. 

“I don’t know if fun is the right word for it.” Sni said, gingerly plopping down a large box of donuts.

“Whoa.” Oliver paused his meticulous pancake tower building to look at the perfectly circular pastries. “Where did you get those from?”

Sni grinned. “I asked for them.”

“What? That’s not fair.” said Silver, who grabbed at the box of assorted donuts that ranged from glazed to chocolate and sprinkles. Sni slapped his hand away. 

“I think one of the hotel staff had bought these but changed their mind. So they gave it to me.” 

“How do you know it’s not poisoned?” Tanner eyed them over.

“I don’t. Would you like to try them?” He did not.

Silver cut in. “I would.” he grabbed a rainbow sprinkled one before Sni could react. Sni gasped, clearly insulted, and slapped him anyway. “Ow! It tastes good. No poison here.”

“Not  _ yet _ .” Sucrose rolled her eyes as she drizzled syrup over her waffles. “Anyway, you guys should go get some food.” she nodded kindly towards the assortment of foods. “I’m sure you guys are starving.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Eric got up before she finished talking, snatching a chocolate donut and stuffing it into his mouth, which warranted a glare from Sni. He turned around quickly towards the scrambled eggs.

Tanner shrugged apologetically and gingerly reached for a chocolate donut. He ate it in one bite (“Gross.” Oliver scoffed) and also got out of his seat to grab some things. Out of all the things they served, he opted for some bacon, hash browns, and cereal.

“Why would you eat  _ cereal _ ?” Silver asked as he returned. “We’re on vacation. Or- sort of vacation.” 

Tanner shrugged as he sat down. “I don’t know. It looked good.”

“Their milk pitchers  _ are  _ fancy.” Eric admitted, placing a glass of orange juice coupled with some eggs and sausages onto the table. Meanwhile, Oliver had taken a large slice of his pancakes and eaten it whole, leaving a cake-slice cavity in his pancake tower. 

The donuts were already halfway gone, which was no surprise. Tanner reached a hand over tentatively, but Sni shook her head. “We should save some for Abby.” She protested, but allowed him one more donut, which he accepted graciously. As soon as he’d taken it, Sni shut the box and placed it beside her, eliciting a chorus of protests.

“Come on. Abby would want some as well.” she pushed it closer to her and the group stopped protesting, defeated. 

Eric swallowed some scrambled eggs. “When are we supposed to even go to Abby’s?”

“Anytime we want, if we’re not cowards.” Silver plucked a strawberry off of Tanner’s plate. 

“No, but seriously.” Tanner moved his plate away. 

“I don’t know. Did she say?” Oliver took another slice of his pancake tower. 

“I think around 12.” Sni chimed in.

There was a pause. “Does anyone..know how to get there?”

“It shouldn’t be that hard. We just take the subway.” Sucrose mumbled.

Eric set his fork down. “Are you kidding? The subway is gross and crowded.”

“Not anymore, is it?” 

“We don’t  _ know  _ that.”

“And what’s the alternative?” Silver pointed out. “We can’t all take a taxi.”

There was a moment of silence where they all didn’t want to say that they agreed out loud.

Sni pulled out her phone and looked up a map of the subway. “The closest line is the 8 Avenue Local.” She zoomed in. “If we keep on that line and switch to the 6 Avenue Local  _ here _ , we should make it close enough to walk.”

“I’m not fond of subways.” Eric admitted. 

“It could be worse.” Tanner elbowed him gently. “Would you like to walk, my liege?”

“Why don’t you have your butlers take us there, in your horse drawn carriage?” Sucrose butted in, with a fake british accent. They all laughed.

“Oh yeah, isn’t DeBurgerz gonna be there as well?” Oliver pointed out.

“ _ Another  _ mod?” Eric complained. Tanner elbowed him. “Sorry! I thought we were supposed to be quarantining, or something.”

“It’s just for today.” Silver promised. “Then we can go back to fucking around at the pool.”

“Please don’t.” Eric replied. They finished up their breakfast shortly after with no further complaints.

The subway was not as crowded as it was the other day, but it was certainly not deserted either. The group had no issue with finding a subway car, but it was not without people. This time, they didn’t need to have a headcount, and were not stared at nearly as much, which was a small relief. 

Mostly though, they did feel a little bit blind. After all, they’d only gone on the subway once for a round trip, and that was with the help of a local.

They were in between stops. The subway car rattled, and the people in it rattled with it. Tanner couldn’t help but notice something out of the corner of his eye. Ever so slightly, he turned his head to the left. It was Eric, who appeared to be checking the map on his phone. His eyes flitted back and forth in an attempt to be subtle. He wasn’t. It was very clear that he was nervous.

Tanner hesitated. Then, in a split second decision, he gently touched Eric’s bouncing leg in an attempt to calm him. Tanner's hand tingled from the contact. At first Eric tensed, as if surprised. They didn’t make eye contact, though Tanner sorely wished to. After what seemed like an eternity, Eric sighed and stopped shaking. Tanner removed his hand from Eric’s thigh, sighing himself. 

Tanner still couldn’t figure Eric out.

Abby’s apartment was probably not built to house 8 people, and it was pretty obvious. The group began to even wonder why they came, as they all squeezed into the living room. 

“So this is your mod mansion, huh?” Tanner asked Abby. 

“You wish.” She sighed as she held the door open.

Sni grinned and looked at the others, then produced the half-eaten box of donuts. She held it out in front of Abby, who lit up immediately.

“Are these...donuts?”

“Yup!” Sucrose grinned. 

“ _ I  _ think we should’ve eaten them all.” said Silver, who eyed the box greedily.

“ _ All _ ? So you ate some, then?”

“Of course!” Eric replied, albeit a bit sheepishly. “Who wouldn’t?”

She laughed. “That’s fair enough.” With a swift motion, Abby flipped open the box to reveal what was left of the donuts. “Well, I suppose for being so nice you can have some more.” At the mention of more donuts, Oliver's eyes immediately lit up. 

There was a notification from all of their phones. As if in sync, the group all checked their phone. The notification was from the group chat, which appeared to be calling them. 

“Who’s gonna answer?” DeBurgerz asked. 

“I might as well.” Abby shrugged, clicking the button on her phone and rotating it to landscape view. Immediately a large array of faces popped up, all speaking at once.

“Hey, you’re at Abby’s!” Lycel grinned. 

The group was all crowded around Abby’s phone. Eric bent down to reply. “Sure are! Where are you guys?”

“At home. Unfortunately.” Misa replied. 

“Turn on your location, I’ll /tp to you!” Isaac said.

“Sure!” Abby replied. “My location is 4321 Minecraft Way.”

“Sick!” came the reply.

More voices piled on. “Wow, Abby, your apartment looks exactly the same as it does in your streams.” interjected Josie. 

“I know, right? It’s almost as if I stream here.” 

“What are you guys doing?” Maizey asked.

“Umm….I don't know, actually.” Abby turned to the group. “Are you guys hungry? We could make something.”

“Like what?” Oliver asked. 

“I dunno. You guys wanna bake? It could be fun!”

“Is that a box of donuts?” Arvin pointed out. “Can I have one?”

“Sure, everyone gets donuts!” Abby laughed, holding out the donuts one by one to the screen.

“I wish I could actually have them.” Maddie stared at them hungrily.

Sucrose smiled sadly. “Just pretend they’re real.” And they did.

Abby pulled out some ingredients from the cabinets- flour, sugar, vanilla extract- and turned to the group. “We should bake a cake!” she said. “We might as well, right? You’re only gonna be here for today.” 

“Are you sure?” Sucrose asked, eyeing the ingredients. “We’re probably gonna make a mess.”

“Isn’t that the fun of it?” Silver asked, already looking around for things. 

“You guys are making cake? Come on, you could have at least done that with  _ us _ !” Maizey protested. 

“Sorry!” Eric replied, pulling out the measuring cups. “You guys are making it with us in spirit.”

“Put in some pepper for me.” Misa said with a grin. 

“No.” said Sni, who had found an appropriate mixing bowl. 

It was becoming increasingly clear that they didn’t know what they were doing. It was a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Abby had found a simple recipe that they followed along to, but Silver quite enjoyed cracking eggs and cracked one too many, making the recipe a little too liquidy. The group worked to make the consistency look normal, and with the direction of the others on the call, managed to make a decent looking batter. With much difficulty, they poured the mixture into a greased container and put it in the oven. 

“So what do you guys think?” Sucrose asked, sighing as they closed the oven. 

“I hope it turns out okay.” Arvin said, on the call. “You better ship some to us!”

“Sure, give us your address.” Oliver replied. 

“Can we get some music please?” Eric asked. “Something funky.” 

“I’ll see what I can do.” Abby walked to her computer and turned on a playlist of songs. They all laughed and danced along. Some song was playing, but it didn’t matter as long as they had the melody in their hearts and everyone was dancing. 

And what did it matter if someone sang off tune, or if the people in the call were out of time? What did it matter if the neighbors would have noise complaints, or that they didn’t know the lyrics, or that in just a few hours they would all have to leave? 

Tanner didn’t feel that ache, that sadness. It didn’t exist to him. It might as well have been dead.

The cake turned out quite good for what was put in the oven. Though the consistency overall was very thick and possibly undercooked (which might have been a problem in the foreseeable future ), it was very sweet and what mattered was that they all came together to make it. They “shared” it with the people in the call, holding up forkfuls of cake to the screen. It was a celebration for the sake of a celebration.

And then there were the goodbyes. Each and every one of them hugged Abby and DeBurgerz tight, not wanting to let go. They tried not to be too hung up on it, but of course that was hard to do. After all, there was always next time. And there would be a next time. 

Abby told them to take care on their way to the subway, and they, in turn, left her what was left of the donuts (which, admittedly, was not much). They waved and waved and waved again, and once they’d left the building they waved to her in the windows, and down the street until they could see her no more. And then it was into the stuffy subway, and back to the hotel. 

Sun had again set behind the tall skyscrapers of New York. Lights began to click on as the group headed back to the hotel, and the air was still with the welcoming of the night time. They entered the hotel and headed up to their rooms just like the day before, tired, happy and stuffed full of cake.

Tanner spared no time racing for the shower first (which Eric protested to, but gave up on attempting to enter when he realized that Tanner was probably disrobing). He took a quick shower as to be courteous to Eric, and got ready to go to bed. Time zones, he realized, made him go to bed much earlier than usual. Which was just as well. 

As he climbed into his side of the bed as the television began to drone, he heard Eric’s voice speak to him, just like the night before. 

“Tanner?”

“Yes?” this time he tried to act more interested.

“Are you having fun?”

That was a strange question. “Of course I am. Are you...not?”

“I am.” a pause. “I don’t know. I was just asking.”

He fell silent. “Why are you asking?” was what he managed to come up with.

“I don’t know yet.” another pause. “I suppose it’s like small talk, you know?”

Tanner didn’t know. So he didn’t answer. 

Perhaps that was unfair.

“Tanner-” he felt a shift in the bed, like Eric had rolled over to talk to his back, which was facing outwards. “-don’t you feel like this trip is just ever so slightly, I don’t know, sad?” his voice was almost shaking, like he was afraid to admit it.

“Yes.” he was glad someone had said it. “Of course it is.” Turn over. Why couldn’t he turn over and look at him? He was frozen, staring at the clock, at the windows, and the curtains. Why couldn’t he look at Eric? Then, softly, “I’m kind of upset. That we won’t get to do the things we wanted to do.”

A sigh. “I know.”

He felt bitter now. “I want to do karaoke. And go to the museum. And-I don’t know. I just thought it would be different.”

Silence. “We all did.” The reply felt like a yell in a quiet room. Which it might as well have been. “We can still...do those things, you know.”

“I know.” but he didn’t. 

“We can talk to the group about it tomorrow, okay?” Eric’s voice asked. 

“Okay.” he replied. But he wanted to say  _ something _ , something so blurry yet vivid that was driven by some sort of aching emotion that jumped out of his chest like a butterfly, screaming in his ears,  _ just say it, goddammit! Yell it to the rooftops!  _ But despite this ringing in his ears and thumping in his chest, Tanner knew he lacked the articulation, the self-awareness to know what this entity wanted of him. And he was silent. Like always. But there had to be something else, something else to say, to bridge the gap between him and Eric.

He turned to Eric.

“Eric?” he asked. His voice felt hoarse.

“Yeah?”

“What were you talking about, with the whole thing about living here?” he hoped his voice was not shaking too much, and if Eric was looking at him, that he would not notice that his eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he spoke. 

The silence was like a jab through his chest. He feared that he’d said the wrong thing. 

But he answered. “I was thinking of moving.”

A pause. “Yes, but what else?”

“Visiting isn’t the same as living here, is it? I really haven’t looked into it much,” Eric admitted, and by now he was speaking fast, so fast Tanner feared he would not be able to keep up, and he feared he would slip out of sync with this man again, “Seeing Abby- and her place- and  _ going  _ places with friends- I want to live somewhere like that.”

“In all seriousness.” Tanner managed to say, gently opening his eyes, “Would you actually live here? You didn’t like the subway.” And as he mentioned the subway, the image of Eric popped in his head, the one who would not speak his mind. He half regretted it. 

“I...I felt better at the end. I was just nervous at the start. Honest.” 

“Would you want to take the subway? For years and years?”

Eric rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling “I don’t know.” and Tanner knew that _he_ didn’t know either.

“Would  _ you _ ?” Eric asked. 

“I wouldn’t mind it.” he admitted. “And it would be lovely to see Abby and Deburgerz all the time.”

“Wouldn’t it be lovely, if we all lived in one place?” Eric asked, his voice a dreamy whisper now. “The fun we would have.”

“It would be fun. But also chaotic in so many ways.”

And Eric laughed. “I guess you’re right. I was just...thinking.” and he fell silent once more.

What was Tanner to do? He couldn’t tell in the dark, but he hoped Eric had closed his eyes. He leaned over to look at him, ever so slightly, and brushed a lock of hair out of Eric’s face. Eric’s chest rose and fell without faltering.

“Good night,” Tanner whispered, so softly he doubted he said it out loud, and turned over to his side to sleep.

If he had waited a moment more, he would have seen the edges of Eric’s mouth curl up ever so slightly into a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry i promise i'm good at writing


	6. Chapter 6

Silver peeked his head behind the mounted television. As he reached a hand behind it, to squeeze between the wall and the tv, he grasped wildly for a cable or plug. He cursed under his breath as he fiddled. 

He clicked the television on. It popped quietly and almost immediately there was the sound of a news reporter speaking. Silver reached over for the remote and flipped to another HDMI channel. He was greeted with a black screen. Silver let out a vulgar phrase as he turned the television off once more.

On the bed, a (crow’s) nest of mods was sprawled. Sucrose was checking her phone. At the desk, Eric was swiveling around mindlessly in the provided chair. The room was not exactly silent, but no one appeared to speak.

The slight cracking of the video call filled the air. The other mods were propped up, made to face the television. They were waiting patiently, in silence. 

“Are you done yet?” Sni asked finally. The group looked up at Silver. 

“ _ No,  _ obviously.” Silver snapped back. 

“Why don’t we just use chromecast?” Oliver asked

“Well if you’re so technologically inclined, you do it.” Silver removed his hand from behind the television and gestured to Oliver, as if inviting him. 

Sucrose set her phone down, clearly annoyed. “We’re in no hurry.”

Oliver got up from the bed anyway. “It’s fine. I can do it.” He grabbed the cable hanging from behind the television and jammed it in forcefully. Then, as if to make a show of it, he connected the cable to an adapter, and then into his phone. Oliver snatched the remote out of Silver’s hands, then clicked the television on. Again, the same reporter continued their news report. A few button presses later and they were on the intended HDMI channel. As Oliver turned his phone on, the television mirrored his screen. He turned to Silver almost mockingly.

“Great!” Tanner sat up on the bed. “So we’re all set, then?”

“ _ Almost _ .” Oliver replied. Silver moved to sit on the bed dejectedly. “Seeing as I got it to work, I think I get to choose the movie.”

There was a clamoring of disagreement. “I think we should put it to a vote.” Maddie protested. But Oliver was not listening. They watched him wordlessly pull up his browser and type in google drive. With a very visible grin, he scrolled through his drive to click on a copy of the movie  _ Cats (2019). _

The room exploded with protest. But it was too late. The video began to load and the intro began to roll. With agility, Oliver closed the curtains and ran to turn off the lights. Sucrose took the opportunity to try and grab his phone, but Oliver ran back and grabbed it before she could. The group’s fate was sealed. The people on the video call reluctantly quieted. 

“Is this...legal?” Silver asked, visibly uncomfortable. The Universal Studios logo rose into frame, with its signature music playing loud. Sucrose moved to quiet the television just a tad.

“Don’t worry about it.” Oliver replied, guarding his phone closely as he was glued to the screen.

Eric shifted in the office chair, and opted to sit on the floor. As such, Tanner saw the opportunity to jump off the bed and claim the chair. Eric turned back and let out a quiet protest, but tried not to make much noise. Tanner grinned back and kicked him playfully as he swiveled. 

The movie opened with a shot of the moon, and panned downward to a neon-red lit alleyway which the story began in. Already the music reminded Tanner of clown music, and he was unnerved.

A car passed. The music grew louder. The cats began to come into view. Immediately Maizey protested, letting out some sort of sigh of disgust. 

The cats began to circle a wriggling bag thrown out of the car. The music was raucous now. The sight of grown adults pretending to be cats wiggling around on the ground terrified the group, and they began to audibly express their discomfort now. Oliver was unfazed. 

“You know there’s a cut of the movie called the Butthole Cut?” He asked.

“The  _ what _ ?” Tanner cringed, trying to swivel around. 

“When they were CGI editing this movie, everyone was naked, right? So when they were editing, well…” he paused. The cats tore open the bag to reveal a feminine cat, who Tanner assumed was the main character. The music faded.

“Oh  _ god  _ no.” Eric tried to close his eyes. The cats began to sing, on all fours. It was terrifying.

“Be glad they didn’t release that version.” Oliver replied, clearly laughing now. 

The music swelled once more. The cats sang of...Jellicle cats? Tanner wasn’t quite sure what that was. But the drums were kind of fun. It was terribly uncanny, however, and there was a sense of discomfort throughout everything. 

Eric let out a high pitched sound that sounded like a whimper. The cats had scampered away and a dark fellow with a trenchcoat and a hat was speaking to the main character. A black cat called to the main character and the fellow disappeared. They ran.

“What  _ is _ this?” Misa cried out, clearly suffering. 

They were at a fence. Two other cats had come to confront the main character. They  _ hissed  _ at the back cat. 

“WHY ARE THEY HISSING?” yelled Abby. 

It was revealed that the cat’s name was Victoria, as she introduced herself to the other cats. The cats began to lead her through the fence. It looked like a graveyard.

They were on all fours again. The other cats were talking low, almost whispering, as they all recited something about names. It was uncomfortably sensual. Victoria began to dance with the cat. It was like ballet, but catlike and weirdly quiet. They could hear the actors breathing. 

Tanner felt a hand grab at his leg. He looked down to see Eric, who was clinging to Tanner’s pants, clearly terrified. Eric scooted a little closer to Tanner, and Tanner wanted to laugh. It was an excuse to keep his eyes off the screen, so he didn’t mind. He watched as Eric pushed himself closer to his leg, wrapping his arms around it and burying his face in the fabric like a little child.

Tanner wasn’t sure whether to be amused or feel bad. 

He quietly placed a hand on Eric’s head. Eric’s hair was soft and much thicker than he’d anticipated (though, he wasn’t sure  _ what  _ to expect) and he gently mussed it up. Eric didn’t appear to mind. In fact, he pushed his head into Tanner’s hand like a cat as he turned to face the screen tentatively.

The movie was not doing well. Rebel Wilson was onscreen now, having a song being sung about her. The singer mentioned something called a “Gumbie cat”, though Tanner had no idea what that was. It was just as uncomfortable, if not  _ more,  _ as she rolled around and scratched in uncomfortable places that made the whole group look away.

“Isn’t this excellent?” Oliver asked in earnest. He was met with a chorus of “no”s. 

“I hate you so much!” Eric yelled, and Oliver shushed him.

Rebel Wilson pulled back a curtain to reveal realistic mice, who were tinier than they were. DeBurgerz let out a cry of pain. But the worst was yet to come. As the song progressed, cockroaches began to fill the screen, marching to the table. 

“Please, let us watch  _ any other movie _ !” Isaac begged, appearing to cry. 

“You haven’t even gotten to the best part yet!” Oliver protested. “Come on, guys. It’s not that bad.”

Arvin winced. “Is this your idea of fun? Group torture?” Rebel Wilson had snatched a cockroach and eaten it. 

“That’s the added bonus!” Oliver turned back, eyes shining with malice. 

And so the movie progressed. Rebel Wilson’s song had ended, and a character named the Rum Tum Tugger had begun singing. It was quite fun-for the moment. Quickly the tone shifted back to uncanny, as Victoria began to dance. She stuck her foot out and the Rum Tum Tugger had grabbed it. 

“No!” cried Tanner, anticipating the worst. It did not come. 

Eric reached a hand out to Tanner, taking it off his leg. Tanner used his free arm to squeeze Eric’s. It was quite an awkward position. 

The Rum Tum Tugger appeared to have transported them all to a “milk bar”, which was neon and old-looking. He danced and freestyled a solo, which was admittedly pretty good. 

Eric shifted. As the Rum Tum Tugger eyed Victoria in the crowd, he took the chance to get up and sit on the arm of the swivel chair.

“If you wanted to sit on the chair, you should’ve stayed there.” Tanner whispered.

“Would you rather I sit on your lap?” Eric shot back. He laid his head in the crook of Tanner’s neck. 

Tanner quickly used his arm to put Eric in a faux chokehold, as it wasn’t very tight. Eric let out a little laugh and squirmed a bit, but Tanner rested his head on top of Eric’s. Eric relaxed and used one hand to hold Tanner’s hand that was putting him in an almost-chokehold. It was almost as if he was draping an arm around him. 

The more the movie progressed, the more sensual it got. A cat that was obviously played by James Corden sang a song about being fat, and ate a lot. It was quite strange, but featured more uncomfortably tense moments as it continued. Victoria met a pair of identical cats named Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser, who encouraged her to steal things from a house. Then she was almost killed by a dog. The  _ real  _ strange part was when they met Old Deuteronomy, who was an old cat that the Jellicle Cats respected. They began to dance on all fours.

“Why are they doing this?” Lycel asked. 

“Be glad they took out the orgy scene.” Oliver whispered, fighting back laughter. 

“The  _ what _ ?” Silver groaned. 

“In the original musical, there’s a scene where they...well…” 

“Please don’t describe it.” Josie begged. The cats began to dance. At one part the Rum Tum Tugger did the strangest dance move that was almost like an attempt at a handstand but he wasn’t able to get up in the air, so it was just a weird-looking kick. 

“How  _ long _ is this movie?” asked Lloyd. 

“We’re about halfway done.” Oliver replied. 

Eric had pulled up his twitter and began to write a tweet with one hand. “For the love of god please help me” he typed, hitting send without thinking. Tanner could see his screen clearly.

There was a quiet ding. Sucrose had replied “mod bonding is  _ not  _ going well”. She got that right, at the least. 

“Can you guys  _ please _ stop shitting on my movie taste?” Oliver asked. The notification of the tweets were showing up on Oliver’s phone screen as they were being sent.

“Oops.” Sucrose said, sheepishly. 

“To be fair, your movie taste  _ is  _ shit.” Sni admitted. 

Oliver threw a pillow at Sni. “Shh.” he turned back to the television. Victoria was outside now, talking to Grizabella. 

A cat named Gus began to sing. He was old and Tanner couldn’t quite remember the name of the actor, though he was so familiar. He thought vaguely about how anyone was willing to even act in the movie, and thought grimly about Taylor Swift, who he’d heard was performing. 

“So...what part is the ‘best’ part?” Seth asked grimly. Skimbleshanks the railway cat was singing about directing trains. 

“You’ll see it.” Oliver replied. Suddenly, Skimbleshanks was twirling so fast he flew into the sky, snapped into nonexistence by Macavity. From the ceiling, a fake crescent moon descended. Atop it was Taylor Swift, singing a song about “Macavity”. She sprayed catnip onto the crowd as Idris Elba made his entrance, unclothed. It was terrifying.

“Didn’t Jason Derulo complain that his thing was…” DeBurgerz’s voice trailed off.

“Yes, he did. They edited it to be smaller.” Sni muttered. 

“Oh,  _ god _ .” Eric turned away and buried his face in Tanner’s neck. Tanner wasn’t sure why Eric’s face was so hot. He took a hand and rustled his hair once more.

The movie was a blur of cats and uncomfortable CGI. The cat that had rescued Victoria, whose name was apparently Mistoffelees, had a song to rescue old Deutronomy, and then Grizabella began to sing. She, of course, was chosen by Deuteronomy, and everyone began to dance. She ascended via chandelier, which was certainly concerning. It was like a cage but with fire on the edges. Idris Elba tried to grab onto it, but only fell. Tanner wondered why that was even included. Finally, the cats began to sing about what makes a cat, while Deuteronomy stared at the camera, uncomfortably. 

Sucrose could take it no more. She was on her phone for the duration of the scene, as the eye contact was extremely creepy. Some other people appeared to also have checked out, but Tanner and Eric stayed watching, or at least watched as much as they could. 

After an agonizing few more minutes, the movie ended as Grizabella’s chandelier rose into the skies and disappeared, fading to black. 

Oliver let out a sigh. He got up finally, pulling the curtains open. The afternoon light blinded the group. Tanner dimly wondered how much time had passed. 

Sni hissed. Eric scoffed at her. “The movie’s rubbing off on you!” he commented.

On the bed, Sni got on all fours and began to sing nonsense. None of them-or at least, most of them-knew enough of the musical to really remember how the songs went. Silver slapped her with a pillow.

“Was there ever a cat so clever?” she sang, laughing and falling off the bed.

“I feel like I’ve come out of a fever dream.” On the call, Misa was rubbing her temples. 

“You probably have.” Tanner pushed Eric off the chair. Eric yelled and scrambled for a pillow to hit Tanner with, but Tanner ducked and grabbed his own. Before long, everyone had grabbed a pillow and they were bashing each other senseless. On the call, the rest of the group was yelling something unintelligible. 

Tanner was breathing heavily as he mercilessly slammed a pillow into Eric’s face, who was laying on the floor laughing and half-choking. 

“Stop!” Eric held his hands out in front of his face in an attempt to protect himself, grabbing the pillow and wrenching it away from Tanner. What ensued was a tug of war between the two, which ended up flying halfway across the room. 

The two locked eyes and laughed. Tanner abandoned his position of kneeling over Eric and laid next to him on the ground. They sighed and watched the others. Sni had her back to Silver, who was attacking her with two pillows. 

Eventually, the group collapsed in a pile, abandoning their pillows as they ran out of energy. Sucrose was the first to get up. She heaved herself off of the bed and ran some fingers through her hair to keep it from being too messy. With a sigh, she walked to the front of the room with a grin that was uncomfortably suspicious. 

“Today was great!” she said, struggling to catch her breath. 

“Uh, yeah, it was. Actually, I don’t know if the word ‘great’ is the right word...” Tanner replied suspiciously. The others shifted to sit up and look at her.

“Yeah, um…” she paused. Her hands moved around nervously, almost as if she didn’t know where to put them. “So…”

There was a pause.

“So?” Silver asked.

“Okay, so don’t get mad at me but I just thought you’d all want to know.” she said, speaking very quickly. “So this morning I was checking my email, right? And as it turns out, the airline has booked me a flight home.”

The group looked at each other with mixed emotions at such sudden news.

“That’s great!” Eric sat up straight, yet there was a hint of bitterness in his voice. “When are you..going home?”

She winced and took a breath. “Tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does this count as filler? idk. i have a plot this is just the connecting car between scenes or smth


	7. Chapter 7

Once again, the group found themselves in an elevator to the fifth floor. They were all squished in the metal box, which felt more like a prison than a transportation vehicle. It was so silent that Tanner could hear the group’s breathing. In a passing thought, Tanner wondered if it was as awkward as he thought it was. 

The metal doors gently opened to the recreation floor once more, and once again they could see the front desk, which appeared unchanged. The lady at the desk was the same one as before, and she appeared to recognize them.

“Hello.” Silver said, a little awkwardly. The woman put on a customer service smile. 

“Good afternoon.” She clicked something on her computer. “How may I help you today?”

“We were, uh, looking to use the gym.” Silver said, as diplomatically as possible. Sni snickered untactfully in the background.

“The  _ gym _ ?” The woman repeated, a hint of surprise in her voice. She was probably assuming that they were there to use the pool.

“Yes.” The group nodded in unison. 

Tanner thought he heard her sigh under her breath. “If I could have you sign these for me, please.” She reached over and handed them some papers on a clipboard. They signed them quickly. “Thank you. The gym will be on your left.” She forced a smile and nodded as she took the clipboard back.

And they were off. The group headed towards the left hallway with haste (Eric more than the others, appearing to be embarrassed) and didn’t look back. The hallway revealed a door not unlike the pool one, except this one was more distinct. It too had a small plaque that read “gym”. Like before, Silver held his card up to the door and it beeped quietly and clicked open.

The gym was not as large as the pool, certainly, but it was not without elegance. The walls were mostly covered in floor to ceiling windows, highlighting the city below. It almost made Tanner dizzy. Rows and rows of gym equipment were lined up perfectly. And of course, it was empty.

Sni approached the windows warily. “It’s quite a drop, isn’t it?” she asked out loud. 

“What? It’s not like you’ll fall.” Silver bumped her, which warranted a surprised yelp. She elbowed him back. 

Oliver turned to Sucrose, who was pulling her hair back. “So, is this how you were planning on spending your last day? Are you enjoying it?”

She flashed him a reluctant smile. “Kind of. I don’t know. I would have  _ liked  _ to go somewhere...nicer.” 

“What, is this not nice?” Eric grabbed a dumbbell from the large rack against the wall. “What’s funner than working out with your bros?”

Sucrose made a face. “I could name at least twenty things.” The group laughed.

“Sorry. We would’ve gone out if we could.” Sni said, apologetically. 

“I know.” she stared at the equipment vacantly. “It’s better than watching Cats, for sure.” 

“Hey!” Oliver protested.

“She’s right.” Tanner muttered with a grin. Oliver glared at him. 

The group’s phones began to ring. They all looked at each other, knowing it was the group chat. 

“Who’s gonna pick up?” Eric asked. 

“I will.” answered Silver. He pulled out his phone and hit the “pick up” button. 

They were greeted with the rest of the group’s smiling faces. Maizey was the first to speak. “Where...are you guys?”

“Working out. Can’t you tell?” Sni was crouching somewhat to fit everyone into frame, leaning in from the side. In the background, Eric flexed. 

“But  _ why _ ?” Isaac asked.

“Why not?” Tanner replied.

Arvin butted in. “Sucrose! I heard you were going home soon.” 

“That’s right!” Sucrose tried to move into frame. 

“Now you’ll finally get to feel how we feel.” Lloyd joked. “We’re never able to participate in things.”

“Aww, don’t say that.” Sni said. “You got to be in mod bonding.”

“That’s not a good thing!” protested Misa. 

Eric laughed. “Well, anyway, going home  _ is  _ a good thing. The sooner we all get home safe, the faster this will all be over.”

“What? You don’t like hanging out with us?” Tanner feigned being hurt. Eric elbowed him.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” 

“It’s what  _ I  _ meant.” Silver added. “I hate it here.”

“Ouch!” DeBurgerz said with a laugh. 

“Show us your abs!” Josie yelled. “You guys are working out for a reason!”

The group looked at each other. Tanner flexed his arms, and Silver did the same.

“Not your  _ arms _ . Your  _ abs _ .” Lycel scoffed. 

“What do you want us to do, take off our shirts?” Oliver asked.

Sni raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

“Gross.” Maddie made a face. 

“Why are you so opposed to seeing people shirtless?” Silver asked Oliver. “You had no problem at the pool.”

“You guys were shirtless at the  _ pool _ ?” Maizey complained. “Now I have to see you guys shirtless. It’s only fair.”

“No way.” Oliver folded his arms petulantly. 

Tanner teasingly lifted his shirt up just a sliver, and let the fabric drop with a laugh. He turned to his right almost subconsciously, only to find no one there. Tanner wasn’t sure why he’d looked at first, then realized-he was looking for Eric. 

But where was he?

On the far side of the room, Tanner spotted him. He’d wandered away from the rest of the group and appeared to be staring out the window as he sat on the floor, hugging his knees. Eric gazed at the city with glossy eyes. 

Tanner tried to subtly scoot out of frame. He ducked his head quickly and quietly and moved to where Eric was. As coolly as possible, he sat with his knees tucked as well, resting his arms on his knees. 

“Hi.” Tanner said softly. The group chattered away behind them. 

“Hi.” Eric did not look over. Tanner’s aching heart wanted to meld with Eric’s. Maybe then he would know what he was thinking. 

“Are you okay?” his voice was barely a whisper. He hoped Eric was listening. If he  _ ever  _ listened. 

“Of course!” perhaps Eric’s voice was somewhat louder than what he intended. He looked surprised at how loud he’d spoken. “I mean...of course. Just…” he took a breath. “The city’s really nice from here.”

He’d changed the subject, if just a little. Did he know that he’d done that? Was it intentional?

“Yeah.” was all that Tanner could say. 

A pause. The incomprehensible muttering behind them backlit the scene.

Tanner scooted a little closer to him. He hoped Eric couldn’t see him shaking. “Why are you looking at the city?”

“I dunno.” his favorite words to say. Tanner wasn’t sure whether to be frustrated or to dive further. He was already drowning. Why was he doing this?

Then Tanner did something strange. Despite being terrified to speak, he opened his mouth and let the words fall out like cherry blossom petals. “Why do you always say that?” the words fluttered to the ground. His voice sounded raw and uneven.

Eric’s lips parted for just a moment, even if it was to take a breath in. “I...I guess it’s easier than...saying anything else.”

“You don’t...need to say anything.” Tanner admitted. He was afraid he was going to say something he regretted. “But I don’t know what you mean when you say that.”

What  _ did  _ he mean? “Yeah.” Eric’s eyes did not move from the skyscrapers. From below, tiny people roamed the streets. 

And indeed, it was unfair to ask so much of him. Tanner wanted so desperately to ask more. But there was something in him that was terrified, that acted recklessly in the name of self-preservation. But why? 

“Do you want to join the group?” was what he managed to come up with. 

“I’m not a child.” Eric snapped back, then stopped himself. “Sorry. I don’t...want to.” 

Was Tanner asking too much? He was trapped in his own body. “Are you thinking about moving again?”

“No.” Then, “Maybe. I don’t know.” Eric stopped himself again. “I am. I think.”

‘Why?” Tanner didn’t know if he wanted to deal with this right now. 

“Sucrose is leaving, and I just…” he sighed. “Is it unfair to want to spend more time with everyone?”

“I don’t think so.” that was the obvious answer. 

“I just...ugh, we have to go to a museum. At all costs. But it’s bad, and they’re probably all closed..” he sighed.

“We’re always gonna have time after this.”

“You’re right.” Eric admitted reluctantly. “It was just nice to be with everyone, and spend time in real life...goddammit. I don’t know how to talk about this to you.” he put his head in his hands.

Those words felt like a stab through his heart. Tanner couldn’t stop himself from speaking. “Why?”

“I feel embarrassed. Almost.” Eric folded his arms and hugged his knees as he rested his head on his legs. His voice was muffled. 

“It’s okay.” Tanner felt like he was shutting down. 

“I don’t know what to say right now.” Was it that he didn’t know, or didn’t want to say it? 

Tanner didn’t know what to say either. So he gazed upon the streets of New York. It felt more like a prison than a place. “I do want to stay here a little longer. Even if the circumstances are unfortunate.” He said finally. 

Silence.

“With you.”

“Sorry?”

“With you.” Eric looked up. Their eyes met. “I want to stay here a little longer...with..” he looked away. “That’s...what I wanted to say.” It was like eye contact was painful for him.

Tanner wasn’t sure what he was feeling. He could hear his heart in his ears, pounding a terrible song. 

He got up. “Come on.” Eric looked up at him, a look of puzzlement on his face. “We only get to be with the others for so long, right? Come on. It’s Sucrose’s last day.” Tanner held out a hand.

Eric cracked a smile. “Yeah.” He reached up and grabbed Tanner’s hand. As he rose, he interlaced fingers with him and squeezed. Their hands, together, tingled with warmth. Hand in hand, the two moved to join the group. 

“...So yeah, spotting isn’t my strong suit.” Silver appeared to be finishing up a story as they approached.

“Neither is anything else.” Sni whispered under her breath, prompting an elbow from Silver. 

“How much can you deadlift?” Seth asked in the call. 

“At least 200, easy.” Silver bragged.

“No way.” Oliver protested, piling weights onto a bar. “Prove it.”

“Uhh, I’m a little tired out from all that stretching. I don’t know.” Silver held his hands up. 

“I can lift  _ at least  _ 10 pounds!” Sucrose bragged. 

Abby grinned. “Impressive!”

“Hey, how fast can you go on a treadmill?” Josie asked.

“How fast can you maintain, or how fast can you put it on? Because I can put a treadmill on max speed, I just won’t be able to keep up for a long time.” Maizey pointed out.

“Why don’t we see?” Arvin asked, nodding to the treadmills behind them. The group turned to them and then to each other. 

Admittedly, it was not a good idea. They ended up “racing” each other on the treadmills, which was an extremely bad idea that ended up with at least one person (Sni) on the floor. Luckily, there were no lasting injuries (though Sni would disagree) and the group opted to stop acting recklessly. 

By this time, Sucrose’s flight was fast approaching and she had to get back to her hotel room to finalize packing. The people on the call wished her safe travels. But there was nothing to be done. They followed her down to the lobby when she finished packing to say goodbye once more.

One by one, the group hugged her tight and said their goodbyes. “My room is going to be empty now,” Oliver said with tears in his eyes, and he truly meant it. But they were all happy to see her go. 

Sucrose gripped the handle of her luggage tightly and began to head out the door. “Goodbye!” she called to them, across the lobby, and they echoed her sentiment. “Promise I’ll call.” 

She turned to the door and was on her way home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about short chapter + godawful pacing. i got sick of writing lol.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the group displays improper quarantine etiquette for plot purposes.

The group stood on the front steps of the museum. It was a tall, multi-story building with glass walls. The doors were open, but a large sign was pasted to the glass- “MUSEUM CLOSED UNTIL QUARANTINE IS LIFTED”.

“Well, that’s confusing.” Sni muttered. “The door’s right open.”

“Why don’t we just go in and ask?” Silver asked.

“Oh, yeah. Let’s go to a probably populated area to ask if we shouldn’t be there.” Oliver rolled his eyes. 

Tanner looked at him. “You don’t  _ know  _ if it’s populated.”

“Do you want to risk it?”

Tanner didn’t reply, but it was obvious that the answer was yes. 

“Come on. We’re all here anyway. Do you want to take the subway home?” Sni reasoned. Eric’s face told Tanner everything. She stepped inside and the group reluctantly followed. 

They were greeted by a woman who appeared to be a museum worker. She had an ID pinned to her chest. 

“Hello.” Sni said with a wave, and the woman responded in kind. “I just had a question about if the museum was open today?”

“Oh, yes.” The woman nodded. “While the museum is technically open, we only allow a certain amount of people to enter. Right now there are only a handful of people in the museum, so feel free to roam around.”

“Excellent!” Sni looked at the group and nodded. “Thank you.” They headed further in.

“See, Oliver?” Eric asked. “Everything’s fine.” 

“I still think we’re at risk.” Oliver replied with a shrug. “I feel like this day could’ve gone way different.” 

“Way different _how_?” Silver asked. 

“I don’t know. I think we had a different activity planned today with the rest of the mods. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with Lloyd.” the group looked at him weirdly, and he backtracked. “I might have misremembered.” They kept walking.

Further into the museum, they could see the whole scope of the place. Its multiple floors jutted out in forms of open balconies. There was so much to explore.

“Where are we going first?” Silver asked. 

“Go to the top and work down?” Eric suggested. The group looked at each other and nodded. 

The stairs up to the top were pushed up to the side of the building, so that when they climbed they could see New York. Tanner eyed the large buildings in the distance. New York really was beautiful, at least when you weren’t on the streets. 

After a considerable amount of time spent climbing the stairs (Sni was panting when they reached the top), the group found themselves on a floor covered in fancy exhibits. They were the only ones there.

“We should’ve just gone here to work out.” Silver quipped. Oliver elbowed him. 

“Wow, look at this.” Tanner peered over a glass case that contained an old wrinkly document. “That’s pretty cool.”

“They have a mini model of an old city! Isn’t that nice?” Eric called, from the other side of the room. The group moved to him. 

The city was encased in glass. It was quite large and made of some sort of plastic. Little signs were all around the perimeter that detailed day-to-day activities. 

“Wow.” Silver said. He placed a hand on the glass. “What else does this museum have?”

“All kinds of things, according to Abby.” Sni turned to the far side of the floor. “There’s an enclosed exhibit there. We should look.” 

The enclosed exhibit was a large room with a divider in the middle, displaying lots of images. A large slab of text was also hung on it, describing the displayed outfit. It appeared to be old clothing from the 1400s. 

“Look!” Oliver called, from the other side of the divider. There was a digital screen, with a few styluses stuck to it with magnets. A few comments were scrawled by museum visitors, and some text floated around wildly. They looked at each other.

Immediately, Silver grabbed a stylus and began drawing a vulgar image. Sni gagged and tried to pull his hand away, but he dodged and kept drawing.

“What if there’s children here?” she asked.

“Where are they? I don’t see any.” he shrugged, and hit submit on the image. 

Eric laughed. He took a stylus as well and began drawing a smiley face.

“Very 'safe for work' for someone like you.” Tanner commented.

Eric made a face. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“I honestly thought you would copy Silver.” 

He looked hurt. “I would never.” Eric held his stylus out to Tanner. “Why don’t  _ you  _ draw?”

“I  _ can’t  _ draw.” Tanner held his hands up.

“Neither can I. But look.” Eric gestured to his crude smiley face. He held out the stylus once more.

Tanner hesitated, but grabbed it regardless. He turned to the board uncomfortably, knowing Eric was looking at him. After a few seconds, he opted to draw a very poor rendition of a pcrow doodle.

“I like it!” Eric said. Next to him, Oliver was doodling a cherry. “My turn.” he took another stylus, and drew a very tiny ant.

“I’m not  _ that  _ small.” Tanner protested. Eric flashed him a grin. Tanner drew a larger ant next to Eric’s, making it have large pecs.

“No fair!” Eric drew another pcrow doodle, but this time gave it a six pack, which did not fit its body at all.

“Where’s Sucrose when you need her?” Sni asked out loud. She’d drawn a little flower with a smiley face, which Silver had scribbled over viciously.

“Do you want to draw something together?” Tanner asked. He watched Eric doodle a little stick figure. Eric looked up.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” He was beginning to sound like Eric. “What if we drew each other?”

“We already have.” Eric said, gesturing confusedly towards the pair of crows and ants. 

“No, I mean in real life.”

“Oh, no way.” Eric held his hands up. “I couldn’t draw people if I tried.”

Tanner gave him a gentle smile, and scooted a little closer. He leaned down a bit and drew a small stick figure. Then, he began to draw over it, adding shorts, a shirt, and then squiggly hair.

“Is that really how I look?” Eric faked looking hurt. Tanner shook his head, adding a little arrow and writing “Eric”. 

Then it was Eric’s turn. He hesitantly drew a circle, then a smiley. Then, he drew a stick figure not unlike Tanner’s, with the shorts and the shirt. He drew hair that was pushed back, then made the figure flex its big pecs.

“Do you really think I have strong arms?” Tanner asked. He couldn’t stop laughing.

“You have to be from streaming so much, don’t you?” Tanner wasn’t sure if he was actually asking, but didn’t answer anyway. He silently drew glasses on his drawing of Eric, and Eric did the same.

“Wow, it looks just like you!” Tanner said, and turned to Eric for approval. Eric squinted for just a moment, and then nodded. 

“Needs more abs.” He declared finally.

“No way. I have stronger abs than you do.”

“Prove it.” Eric said, drawing a six pack on Tanner’s rendition (though in the drawing he was wearing a shirt, so it didn’t really make any sense). 

“Do you want me to take my shirt off in a  _ museum _ ?” Tanner asked.

Eric chuckled and shook his head. “I mean, if you’re offering…” but he said nothing more. 

Silver eyed their drawings. He was silent, but took his own stylus and quietly drew a little heart between the two of them. They looked at it and then at each other, and laughed. 

“Stop it!” Tanner said with a laugh. “Where’s the erase button?”

“There is none.” Eric shrugged. “Guess you’ll just have to submit it.”

“I am  _ not  _ submitting this.” Tanner considered scribbling over it, but decided that it would be too mean. “It literally has your name written on it.”

Eric suddenly got a devilish grin, and immediately drew a little arrow with a caption that read “Tanner”. Then, before Tanner could react, Silver clicked the submit button. 

“Dude!” Tanner said, but he couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Now it’s gonna be on this screen for who knows how long.” The little doodle bounced around like a DVD screensaver. Sni looked up from her drawing and laughed at it.

“Er-ic and Tan-ner, sitting in a tree.” Oliver said teasingly. 

“Do  _ not _ finish that, or I swear.” Tanner’s face was hot. Eric flashed Oliver an apologetic grin. Oliver backed off.

“Are we done here?” Sni asked. They stepped back to look at their drawings. Besides the crude drawing Silver made and the little Tanner and Eric, Sni had tried to salvage her flower, and Oliver’s little cherry was floating around happily. 

“I think we’ve done enough damage here.” Tanner mumbled, a little sheepishly. 

“Fair enough.” Oliver replied. “To the next exhibit!” He held up his hand like a tour guide, and off they went. 

The next room they went into was dark, and little circular cases of things were illuminated like pillars. They wandered about with slight difficulty, attempting not to bump into anything.

“This is just like the Animal Crossing museum.” Eric whispered.

“Nerd.” Oliver muttered under his breath. Eric elbowed him. 

“Where are the fossils?” Silver asked aloud. “It’s not cool without the bones and stuff.”

“If you were so into bones you’d go to some natural history museum.” Sni rolled her eyes, which was illuminated by the cases. 

“Why didn’t we?” 

“Because it was closed?” She turned to Silver accusingly. 

“So maybe we shouldn’t be here right now.” Silver muttered under his breath, but they said nothing.

Eric was looking at a large glass cylinder with some sort of old tool. Something about the way that the blue light highlighted his face made his eyes sparkle. Tanner felt like Eric was the exhibit in this museum. He could have stared at him all day. 

“What is it?” Eric asked suddenly, without taking his eyes off the glass.

“What?” Tanner was taken aback.

“You’re looking at me again.”  _ Again _ ? Had Tanner looked at Eric before without realizing it? Eric turned from the exhibit to lock eyes with Tanner.

“Oh.” Tanner felt like eye contact was somehow too intimate. He was afraid Eric could see too much. Tanner looked away.

“No, what is it?” Eric asked softly. He moved closer. Tanner could almost feel his body heat. 

“I was just looking.”

Eric cocked his head teasingly. “At what?”

Tanner couldn’t look at him. “At you.” His face was hot. He tried to rub his face to cool it down.

Silence. Did he say something wrong?”

“I want to look at you.” Eric said finally.

What?

Tanner was paralyzed. He thought vaguely of that moment in the hotel room again, and how he just couldn’t move. His face was hidden from Eric’s by the darkness of the exhibit. 

“Will you look at me?” It was a request, a question. A wish that Tanner wanted desperately to grant. 

He turned his face from the darkness into the light.

If an atomic bomb went off in that moment, Tanner would not have noticed. All he could see was Eric’s face, a face that he felt he did not deserve to see. His face was heating up. He couldn’t breathe. 

What could he say? Tanner stared at Eric’s shining eyes. They were silent for a moment more, and then Eric cracked a smile and began to laugh.

“Wow.” was all he said. For a brief moment, Tanner was afraid Eric was mocking him. But Eric turned to him and gave him a soft smile. Tanner’s chest set off a million fireworks.

Eric turned to the entrance. “We should catch up with the group.” he said finally. Oh right. The group. Had they left without them? How could Tanner have not noticed? 

Tanner should have said something. They were alone, after all. But he was afraid of this _thing_ that he couldn’t quite name yet. So he was silent. They left the room. 

The outside of the exhibit was comparably much brighter than the inside. Eric shielded his eyes for just a moment while his eyes adjusted. Tanner did the same. They were standing on the balcony of the fourth floor. 

“Where are they?” Tanner asked. Eric looked around.

“Um…” his voice trailed off as he looked downward. “I don’t know. Did they actually leave us behind?” He asked, and as he finished the sentence his voice pitched up as if he was actually considering it.

“No way.” Tanner pulled out his phone to call them. 

“Wait. I think I see them.” Eric touched his hand gently. Tanner almost jumped, but managed to keep his composure. “Come on.” Tanner obeyed.

They walked down the stairs to the third floor. It looked like the third floor was mainly focused around art, though there appeared to be a replica of some sort of battlefield in the distance. Eric’s eyes flicked around, scanning the scene. There was no one.

“Where are they?” Tanner asked.

“I could have sworn I saw them…” Eric walked towards the battlefield, then stopped in his tracks and let out a frustrated sigh. As Tanner caught up, he saw why- the battlefield featured life-size soldier mannequins. 

“Oh.” Tanner looked around again. “Should I call them?” 

“No, we can find them.” Eric said, possibly in denial. He grabbed Tanner’s wrist-in a split second thought, Tanner thought that he should’ve grabbed his hand-and gently led him towards the other side. Tanner didn’t mind. He could’ve followed Eric around all day. 

“I don’t think they’re here, either.” Tanner protested quietly. He jerked his hand away, apologetically. Eric stopped walking and began to type on his phone.

“So, is this really somewhere you’d want to live? You get lost in a  _ museum _ .” Tanner joked, trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

“No way. New York sucks.” he said without looking up.

Tanner frowned. “It’s nice.” he replied, a little hurt. “Abby’s here.”

Eric looked up for just a moment. “It’s  _ only _ nice because Abby’s here.”

Tanner was uncomfortably quiet.

Eric put his phone away, probably done texting. “I didn’t say I wanted to live here  _ specifically _ . I’d want to live somewhere with friends.” 

“Like where?”

Eric and Tanner met eyes, and suddenly a grin began to creep on his face. “Like...somewhere we can do all the things we want to. Somewhere...somewhere we can do karaoke. And dance.”

“And watch movies.” Tanner added. Eric’s face lit up. He leaned on the edge of the balcony. 

“Somewhere we can watch the sun set. And walk to a store.”

“And not buy anything?” Tanner asked with a laugh.

“And almost get kicked out and get really embarrassed and never come back there again.” Eric affirmed. 

“That’s oddly specific.”

“Yeah, well…” he got a little closer to Tanner. “...maybe it’s happened before.”

“Maybe?” Tanner, who was also leaning on the edge, looked to the opposite side of the balcony. A digital sign hooked up to the wall flashed advertisements of museum events. 

He felt something on his shoulder. Eric was tentatively leaning his head on Tanner’s right shoulder.

Tanner softened. He leaned his head on top of Eric’s. They stared at the ads, which seemed to repeat. 

“New York isn’t so bad.” Tanner said finally. 

“That’s debatable.” came the reply. Tanner chuckled.

“It’s nice to be  _ here _ , though. Isn’t it?” Tanner moved his head upright and turned to Eric, who also looked up. 

Their faces were close. Too close. Tanner could feel Eric’s breath on his face, and it made him feel something strange. They locked eyes for just a moment, then Eric looked down a little. 

“There you are!” a voice that Tanner recognized as Sni's said. Tanner turned to see Sni, Silver and Oliver coming down the stairs. “Where were you guys? We were looking all over!”

“No we weren’t.” Silver said. He looked at them. “Sni wanted to see some sort of game exhibit, and we got carried away. We weren’t looking for you guys at all.”

“Thanks. That’s so nice of you.” Eric said.

“Hey, no problem.” replied Oliver. “Hope you guys weren’t going too crazy without us.”

“I’m quite sane, thanks.” Tanner said. 

“We’re gonna go to the second floor, just to see what they have. Silver said he saw a VR game.”

“Sounds good to me.” Tanner said, and followed the group. But in a moment of doubt, he turned suddenly, as if he were a reincarnated Orpheus, to see if his Eurydice was following.

Eric was staring at the sign on the balcony still.

Tanner walked back. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” he gave Tanner a quick smile, standing up straight. 

There was an impenetrable silence between them.

“If you want to talk more…” Tanner’s voice trailed off.

“No, it’s okay. I was just looking.” Eric insisted. He relaxed his shoulders. “I promise.” He promised. Eric wouldn't lie. 

Not to Tanner.

Tanner smiled, and held out a hand. “Come on. They’re gonna leave us behind again.”

Eric took his hand, and together they walked down the stairs. This time, Tanner did not look back. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory karaoke chapter because of course there is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: this chapter sucks! like big time! i plan on rewriting this but probably not in the near future. anyway yeah. sorry that it's so bad!

“I am not singing, by the way.” Abby said, sitting on Silver’s bed. It sank a little underneath her.

“What?” Oliver protested. He pulled out an alcoholic beverage from the minibar. “We put so much effort into sneaking you in, and you’re  _ not  _ going to sing?” Silver was hooking up his phone to the television once more. 

She held her hands up. “I’m not good at singing. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Neither am I.” Eric said, not looking up from his phone. “But I’m still going to sing.” 

“You are?” Tanner asked, surprised. 

He looked up. “Yeah.” the edge of his lips curled upwards. “Are you gonna?”

Tanner wasn’t sure how to answer. But the answer was clearly no.

“Anyway,” Sni said from her bed. “We’re all going to. Come on.” She tilted her head at Abby.

Abby cringed. “If everyone’s singing at the same time,  _ maybe _ .”

“We’ll let you choose the song?” Silver offered.

She paused a moment and thought. “I’ll think about it.”

“Well, you might want to think about it fast.” Silver inserted a cord into his phone and the television blipped on. 

“Um, I don’t know…” she said, but didn’t seem super hesitant.

“I want to choose first.” Burgerz protested, grabbing a beverage from Oliver. “We have to do an homage.”

“Oh!” Misa piped up from the voice call. The group had propped up a phone to face the television like last time. “Let’s do Fly Me To the Moon.”

“Please, no.” Tanner covered his face with his hands. The group laughed.

“How about Nut Jump Dreams?” Abby asked. 

“Can we sing that one with CJ?” said Lo. 

“Do you  _ see  _ CJ here?” Mel said, also on the call. 

“Can we call him?” Celeste asked.

“Absolutely not.” Mel replied.

“How are you guys even going to sing that?” Oliver peered at the screen. “You’re going to be off beat.” 

“So what? Just mute them.” Tanner joked, prompting a yell of protest from the call. 

“That would be mean.” Abby looked apologetic. “We wouldn’t do that. Promise.”

“I would.” Silver said. Sni threw a pillow at him. 

“Can we start, please?” Josie asked. 

“I’ll go first.” Silver opened up Youtube and looked up “my favorite color is blue karaoke”. The page loaded for just a moment before showing results. He clicked on the first result, which was a lyric video.

“No instrumental?” Mac asked aloud. The music began to play.

“Wait a minute, I know this song.” Celeste said. “It’s really edgy.”

“ _ Edgy? _ ” Eric butted in. “It’s a banger.”

“I don’t think you know what a ‘banger’ is.” muttered Lycel. 

Silver got up in front of them all and held up a black hairbrush as a mock microphone. “Everyone shut up. I’m singing now.” he began to sing. 

_ Locked up, naked with socks  _

_ I’m watching the phone ring  _

_ It’s making me angry _

_ It’s making me mad _

“This is a banger, I’m telling you!” Eric shouted, doing a little dance. Lycel rolled her eyes. 

“If I were there right now, I’d throw a pillow at you.” she said. 

_ I took an oath, it's killing me though _

_ 'Cause I don't believe in the things that I do _

“And now my favorite color is blue!” Eric shouted, popping the tab off of a Bud Light. 

“I’m muting you.” Lloyd covered his ears with his hands and appeared to click a button on his screen. 

“Can we get some pepeDs in chat?” Mac asked. 

Silver sang a little bit more before the song ended. He was met with a smattering of applause, and did a cheeky bow before moving to sit on his bed.

“Who’s next?” he asked. 

“I’ll go!” Sni said, jumping up from her bed. She obscured the screen as she typed in a song name, chose the video, and began to sing.

_ All it'd take is one flight _

_ We'd be in the same time zone _

_ Looking through your timeline _

“Oh, I know this song.” Seth interrupted. “Lost in Japan by Shawn Mendes, right?” Sni glared at the screen and continued singing. 

_ Do you got plans tonight? _

_ I'm a couple hundred miles from Japan, and I _

_ I was thinking I could fly to your hotel tonight _

“How fitting.” Mel whispered with a grin. 

“Speaking of,” Oliver interrupted. “I do have something to tell you guys.”

“Oh?” Maizey perked up. Sni shushed them, but Oliver ignored her. 

“So, you know how a bunch of other people are being quarantined right now?” he continued. The song kept going in the background.

“Yes…” Isaac didn’t quite follow.

“Well, there’s this guy…”

Suddenly Arvin got a big smile. “And?” 

“And...well, I don’t know yet. I’m going to meet him later today.”

“You  _ are _ ?” Maddie interjected. The group exploded into a plethora of gasps. Oliver grinned at them, put a finger to his lips, and began to sing along with Sni.

_ I could feel the tension _

_ We could cut it with a knife _

_ I know it's more than just a friendship _

_ I can hear you thinking 'bout it, yeah _

The song finished up shortly. After a brief pause for applause, they turned to Oliver with questions. 

“Who is it?” Lo asked.

“What does he look like?” said Abby. 

“What room?” begged Eric, which prompted a glare from Tanner. He smiled apologetically. 

But they were met with silence. Oliver simply smiled and shrugged, not uttering a word. Eventually they just gave up in frustration.

“Who’s next?” he asked, as if nothing had just transpired. 

“My turn!” Mac piped up from the call.

“You’re going to be off.” Sni said with an eyeroll. 

“So what? I’ll just sing a second early.” 

“You can do that?” Arvin asked dubiously. Mac didn’t answer.

“Put on ‘Agony’ from Into the Woods for me.” he said. Silver obeyed. Theatrical music began to play. Mac began to sing in a deep voice.

_ Did I abuse her or show her disdain _

_ Why does she run from me _

_ If I should lose her how shall I regain _

_ The heart she has won from me _

“You have a beautiful voice, Mac.” Lycel closed her eyes and swayed. 

_ Agony _

_ Beyond power of speech _

_ When the one thing you want _

_ Is the only thing out of your reach _

Eric began to pantomime singing, holding his hand out dramatically and putting his other closed hand on his chest. The group tried to suppress snickers, swaying their hands as if they were at a concert. 

Mac ended off the song with a long note that made everyone clap. “Bravo!” Celeste cheered. 

“Thank you.” he said, a little sheepishly. 

“I’ll go!” Abby held up her hand like a school kid. She stood up and grabbed the phone, turning to the call. “Josie, do you want to join in on this?”

“Do I!” Josie perked up.  _ Breaking Free  _ from High School Musical began to play.

“Awww.” Maizey said, a little jealous. Abby began to sing. 

_ “We’re soarin, flyin, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach.” _

Sni whooped.

“ _ If we’re trying, so we’re breaking free.”  _

Abby began to jump up and down like she was at a concert “We’re breaking free!” 

“We’re soarin, flying,” Josie held her hand out. Abby held her hand out to the screen, and their fingertips touched. Maizey gagged. 

“There’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach!” the group sang along. 

“This is  _ our  _ duet! Quiet!” Josie said, but no one listened. 

_ Can you feel it building _

_ Like a wave the ocean just can't control _

Tanner laughed and covered his face. The group got up and jumped around. He sat on the bed watching them. 

“Dance with us!” Eric held out a hand. Tanner hesitated, but Eric’s grinning face alone was enough. Tanner grabbed his hand and spun around wildly.

“I don’t know how to dance!” he said, laughing.

“Neither do I!” Eric spun Tanner around like they were ball dancing, catching him with a low dip. 

Oliver gagged. “Get a room.”

“Look who’s talking!” Lloyd pointed out. “Why don’t  _ you  _ get a room with that  _ boy  _ you mentioned?” Oliver rolled his eyes and everyone laughed teasingly.

“Look, if you won’t say anything this will continue.” Sucrose said with a shrug. He still didn’t answer. 

After a large array of songs, ranging from “Baby Hotline” and “I Will Survive” to “Supalonely”, the group was generally exhausted, and a little bit buzzed. Tanner wondered if their neighbors hated them. Not that it mattered, since they couldn’t really get kicked out anyway. 

“I have...one last song I want to sing.” Eric said, his voice beginning to slur just a bit. 

“What are you talking about? You haven’t sung a solo once.” Silver asked. Eric glared at him and got up. He shakily typed in a song and hit play, holding up the mock microphone.

The lyrics began immediately. Tanner hadn’t heard the song before. 

_ Who am I _

_ To think that I’m the guy _

_ That’ll make you happy _

Eric turned from closing his eyes and singing into the hairbrush to turn to Tanner. They locked eyes. 

_ I'm into you _

_ I want you to be into me _

_ But you can't see me _

_ No you can't hear me _

Tanner didn’t know it at the time, but his face was red. Eric looked right at him as he sang, then began to jump up and down, strumming an air guitar as the chorus began.

_ Cause there's static in the room _

_ Why can't you hear me baby _

_ Tryin' to get to you _

_ You still can't hear me _

_ Your channel is unreachable _

_ Your body is untouchable _

_ You stand in front of me but you can't hear me _

_ Cause there's static in the room _

“Well?” Burgerz asked during the short instrumental, not even trying to hide a grin as he elbowed Tanner. “Get up.”

“What?” Tanner asked, but he wouldn’t get an answer as the group pushed him up to Eric. Eric grabbed his arm and spun him around like before. Tanner was along for the ride.

_ Fool me once _

_ You ask me how I'm doing _

_ Fool me twice _

_ You tell me you wanna get closer _

They were dancing now, the group cheering them on. But Tanner couldn’t really hear them. It was like they were in their own world, the song as the soundtrack. 

_ Well I'm that guy _

_ That will believe the lie _

_ That you want me _

_ That you need me _

Tanner didn’t know the lyrics, but that didn’t matter. He hoped it didn’t matter to Eric. And he didn’t know how to dance, but in that moment he let Eric lead. It was then that Tanner realized that Eric was  _ talking  _ to him, for once. It felt unreal. 

_ But there's static in the room _

_ Why can't you hear me baby _

_ Tryin' to get to you _

_ You still can't hear me _

_ Your channel is unreachable _

_ Your body is untouchable _

_ You stand in front of me but you can't hear me _

_ Cause there’s static in the room _

Eric spun Tanner around until they were both dizzy. Tanner couldn’t stop laughing. If this truly were a movie, there would be a spotlight on the two. This would be their waltz, with Tanner as the blind fool who would follow Eric to the ends of the earth. 

“I don’t know how to dance,” he repeated, not sure why he was speaking.

“It doesn’t matter to me.” replied Eric. As they faced each other, he held Tanner’s arms and Tanner did the same.

Was this really happening? Eric’s forehead was pressed to Tanner’s. Or was this just a movie, a fantasy that Tanner didn’t know he had. He hoped it was real. 

The song had ended. He knew that much. But it didn’t matter to them. Nothing did.

Say something. Say  _ something _ . But Tanner couldn’t stop looking at Eric’s eyes, and Eric would not break eye contact. This is what Tanner wanted, right? But he didn’t know anymore. 

He didn’t know anything anymore. 

Then something strange happened. Tanner wasn’t sure what came over him. Eric leaned in and  _ kissed  _ him. The room swirled around them like a stage, their spotlight lifted them into the air, lips to lips, circuit to switch, sending a surge of electricity through the two of them.

_ This isn’t a dream.  _ Tanner thought to himself.  _ This is real _ . And he was happy for it. 

Behind them, Tanner could’ve sworn he heard the group scream. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath. Mostly talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Tanner was staring blankly out the hotel window. It was nighttime already-when had that happened? No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop replaying that moment from earlier that day. It felt like it had happened so long ago. He couldn’t believe it was still the same day.

They were silent. Tanner turned to Eric, who was behind him. 

“I..don’t know.” He said. They locked eyes.

What do you say?

Eric shifted to sit on the bed. “Are..” he hesitated. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding stupid.”

Tanner cracked a smile. “Neither do I.” he moved to the bed. It sank under their combined weight. “But you’re not stupid. I swear.”

“I sure feel like it.” Eric held his head in his hands. 

Tanner frowned. “Did you...did you not want to-”

“No. No, I did,” Eric began to speak quickly, backtracking. They met eyes again. 

It was now or never. Tanner reached deep inside of him and begged his chest to admit him entry, to let him access those words he desperately wanted to materialize. He took a breath.

“Did you mean what you said?” Too intimate by far! The moment he spoke, he felt a rush of heat to his face, and he was blushing again. Why was he making himself a fool? And for what?

Eric paused. “I did. Really.” he looked away and coughed. “No. I...I wasn’t sure if you felt the same.” then, “Do you?”

How was he supposed to answer? This was the perfect moment. Everything up till now had culminated into this moment, and he still couldn’t find it within himself. But maybe that was the point. 

“I do.” That was too short. Say more. “I just look at you, and I…I guess it’s like, I’m afraid.” That was too much! Tanner was ill equipped for this. He looked away. 

“Afraid? Of what?” 

How could Eric speak? Tanner struggled to say even a single word. “I just can’t tell what you mean sometimes. It’s like I can’t talk to you.”

Eric’s face dropped, and it was like a bullet in Tanner’s chest. “Why?”

The lead projectile embedded in his chest began to rust him from the inside out. “You just don’t say what you mean. Sometimes you’ll say things and I can never figure out your intentions.”

“I do?” Eric’s eyebrows wrinkled. 

“You just...talk about moving and Abby and subways…” Tanner held his head. “I feel like you mean something else.”

“I don’t.” Eric’s eyes were unreadable. “I do want to move.”

“But  _ why _ ? Why are you telling me this?”

“I..I want to know how you feel about it.” How  _ did  _ Tanner feel about it? 

“I think...you should move where you want to move. And New York doesn’t make you happy, so don’t move here.”

“But what about  _ you _ ?” Eric leaned forward, and Tanner’s heart pounded. “You might move, right?”

Tanner didn’t know. “Maybe in the future.”

“So? Where would you move?”

Was that an unfair question? Tanner didn’t think it worth it to dwell on it. “I would...I might want to move in with friends. I might go to the US. Or somewhere in Canada.”

Eric looked down. Tanner noticed he was fidgeting with his hands. “I want to go somewhere with  _ you _ .”

He did? Tanner wasn’t sure why he was so surprised. “Like, move in with me?”

“Not if you’re not comfortable.” Eric backtracked suddenly. “I just…” his face abruptly turned red and he looked at the window. “I had this idea of like, sharing a place together…” He laid down on the bed.

“With me?” Tanner couldn’t hide a smile. He laid down with Eric, staring at the white ceiling.

“And other people!” He was speaking fast. “It’s always been a dream of mine.” 

“Really?” Tanner wondered if it was appropriate to tease him.

“Well, not  _ always. _ ” Eric admitted. “It just feels more...possible now. I wanted to know how you felt about it.” 

Tanner thought about that for a moment. “ _ If  _ I were to move, I would. I would move in with you.” 

They were getting somewhere, or so Tanner hoped.

Eric was openly smiling now. He sat up. “But you know, I always thought the opposite.” 

Was he changing the subject? “What?”

“You...whenever I’d say those things, you’d just respond in one or two words. I never knew what you meant.”

Ah. So he had noticed Tanner’s hesitation all this time. He stammered out a sentence as he sat up as well. “I didn’t see it that way.” 

“Oh?” Eric smiled. “I always felt like I was the one leading the conversations most of the time.”

He was? Tanner thought back. He remembered the feeling of paralyzation. He remembered not being able to look at Eric, to speak a word. At that moment he knew it was true.

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh, there’s no need to apologize.” Eric moved a little. He gently touched Tanner’s fingers. The warmth made Tanner’s skin tingle. “Really.”

What more was there to say? It was as if there were a million more things to be said, but there were only so many more hours left in the day, and if only there were enough words in the English language to say them. Tanner sorely wished he could invent a new language, one that could properly express the sheer amount of emotions he was experiencing.

Hot tears began to involuntarily run their way down his face. His vision was blurred. Tanner took a sharp breath and tried to wipe them away.

“Oh, please don’t cry.” Eric squeezed Tanner’s hand desperately. Why was he crying? What was this feeling? “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

“I don’t  _ know. _ ” Tanner said. He rubbed his face furiously, feeling somewhat like a child. “It’s just...I feel stupid.”

“ _ Hey. _ ” Eric pressed his forehead to Tanner’s. Their fingers interlocked. “You aren’t stupid. Promise.”

“I don’t know how to describe it.” Tanner could see tears forming in Eric’s eyes as well. The act of speaking, of being  _ known _ , was terrifying to him. “I care about you. I worry about you a lot.”

Eric’s face brightened significantly. Ever so tenderly, he wiped away Tanner’s tears. He tried to regulate his breathing.

It was like there was something bubbling in him that erupted, a faucet that would not stop leaking. “I’m afraid that you don’t feel the same, and I just don’t know how to  _ talk  _ to you. Do you..do you really like me?” 

“Like” wasn’t the right word for it. But it was the only word he knew.

“Yes.” Eric tenderly smiled, and his voice was so soft. “I really do like you. And I’ll tell it to the world, and yell it to the heavens if that’s what you want.”

He was so  _ forward.  _ “The only world I need is right here within these walls.” Tanner attempted a laugh. He gently lifted a hand and touched Eric’s cheek, cupping it in his hand. Eric put his hand over Tanner’s and leaned into it. His face was hot to the touch. Tanner thought he was holding the sun in his hands, which was just as well. 

“So that’s it, then? You really like me?” 

“ _ Somehow _ .” Eric said. Tanner massaged Eric’s face with his thumb. He could feel Eric’s tears beginning to dry. “God, I...I don’t know how to describe it, but I really do love you. And...I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

_ Love _ . The word jarred him at first. He wasn’t ready for it to be said so openly, so casually. It was horrifying and beautiful and terribly angushing all at the same time. Tanner wasn’t sure how to respond.

“I love you, too.” his body temperature must have risen at least 100 degrees as he choked the words out. And Tanner knew he really meant it, too, because he had never felt so  _ odd _ before, but he was sure now that it was a good kind of odd, a new kind, that he could get used to. Eric’s eyes sparkled.

“Can I kiss you?” Tanner asked. 

Eric’s smile was a mile wide. “Yes.” he said, so enthusiastically that he might as well have shouted. 

Their lips connected. Tanner took his hands and placed them on Eric’s face, pulling him close. Eric leaned in, also taking a hand and placing it on Tanner’s cheek. It was exactly the same as earlier, electrifying and hot. The room spun around them and Tanner wildly thought that if this were a dream, he would not want to wake up. 

But it wasn’t a dream. They separated, two parts of a whole broken once more, each half missing the other in their absence. Tanner was breathless. 

“I…” Tanner was cut off by his phone buzzing. He saw Eric’s eyes flick downwards to his phone.

“Do you want to-”

“No. It’s the group chat, probably.” He said. He moved his phone away with a flick of his hand. “You’re more important.”

Eric tilted his head and grinned. How could Tanner resist smiling when Eric did? He was almost about to kiss him again when Tanner’s phone buzzed once more. 

Eric looked down, pausing. “It’s getting late,” he said. Tanner’s heart sank just a little. “We should go to bed.” 

“Okay.” Tanner was afraid he’d overstepped a boundary. He sat up straight. Eric got up and turned the lights off, then laid down in the bed. He rolled onto his side to look at Tanner, who had also laid down. They made eye contact.

“I don’t want you to go home.” Eric whispered. 

“Me neither.” Tanner’s voice was low and raw. 

“We’re going to move in with each other. We will.” Eric said, but the way he said it, it could have been a question.

“Moving will take forever.” Tanner murmured. “When all of this is over, we’ll be quarantined for who knows how long.” 

Eric’s face fell somewhat. “That’s not true. We’ll make it work.” He rolled over to his back. 

“It’ll be worth the wait.”

“Yes. I promise.” Eric smiled at Tanner. He closed his eyes. “Are you going to check your phone?”

He was changing the subject. “No, it’s probably the group chat like I said.” Tanner placed his phone on his nightstand, silently cursing it. Out of spite, he refused to check.

“All right.” Eric rolled over to his side, his back to Tanner. “Good night.” 

“Good night.” Tanner hesitated for just a moment. He tentatively shifted to get closer to Eric. He could feel Eric’s back pressed to his chest. For a split second, he was afraid that he was crossing a boundary. Tanner laid his head on Eric’s, admiring his soft hair, and wrapped his hands around Eric’s torso. To Tanner’s relief, Eric leaned his head back affectionately, and smiled. 

“I love you.” Eric whispered. Tanner feared his ears were betraying him. But he knew that he didn’t mind. His heart pounded.

“I love you too.” Tanner responded, hoping Eric knew how much he meant it. He closed his eyes and the world faded to black. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey gamers, do you ever kiss your homie and then after have an hour long conversation about if you two are gay and in love or not? Because me too. Definitely. Totally not bad writing at all.


	11. Chapter 11

“We’ve terrorized this place enough,” Tanner protested lightly as the group walked down the carpeted hallway. “I seriously doubt this is a good idea.”

“Are you kidding?” Sni asked. “We can’t cancel our reservation this late.”

“Besides,” Oliver butted in. “It’s just dinner. We’re not animals.”

“Speak for yourself.” Eric muttered, side-eyeing Silver. Silver rolled his eyes. 

“Seeing how you guys act during breakfasts, I don’t think this will go very well.” Tanner said with a shrug. 

“That’s  _ breakfast. _ This is dinner.” Oliver retorted. 

“Aren’t we supposed to be quarantining or something?”

“We are! We’re still inside the hotel, aren’t we?” Silver asked.

They turned a corner, and Tanner punched the button to call the elevator. “With a bunch of people.”

“It can’t be helped.” Sni shrugged.

The elevator doors opened. They entered. “Come on. We’re all going home soon, probably.” Eric said. At the mention of going home, the group exchanged somewhat regretful grimaces. “We should at least do  _ some  _ fun things.”

“Um, we  _ have _ been doing fun things.” Silver pointed out. “And maybe we did break quarantine a little, but we came all this way.”

“I don’t even like fancy food.” Tanner said. 

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” Eric took Tanner’s hand in his. Their fingers connected and sparked like wires.

Sni gagged. 

“Get a room.” Oliver said, echoing his past sentiment.

“Where’s that boy you were talking about earlier?” Eric tilted his head mockingly. “Is he not going to join us for dinner?”

Oliver shrugged. “He just isn’t.”

“So you’re saying he doesn’t exist?” Silver asked.

Oliver scoffed. “He just doesn’t know you guys.”

“All the more reason for him to join us!” The elevator dinged, and opened up to the restaurant. They filed out quietly, with Sni taking the lead.

The group was seated by a hostess. The restaurant overlooked the lobby of the hotel, with a low railing offering views below. In the background, soft piano played. Soft overhead lights set the mood.

“What are you guys getting?” Silver asked, opening up his menu.

“Do they have chicken nuggets?” Sni said. “You’d like that.” Silver elbowed her, and she elbowed him back.

“I thought we were supposed to be participating in fine dining.” Eric held up his fancy glass. 

“Yeah, Tanner’s used to that, right?” Oliver asked. “He has so many butlers.” 

“I do  _ not _ !” Tanner slammed his menu shut. The group laughed. 

“Can you prove it?”

“Can  _ you  _ prove that you’re actually seeing a guy?” Tanner leaned forward. 

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Tomorrow, we’ll see.”

There was a chorus of oohs from the table. 

“When?” Silver asked. A server placed a basket of bread on the table. 

Oliver didn’t look at the group as he spread some butter on a slice of bread. “I don’t know, whenever he’s free.”

Eric groaned. “We’re  _ all  _ free. We’re all kind of stuck here.” 

“He’s a busy man.” Oliver said simply.

“I think you don’t want us to see your  _ boyfriend _ .” said Sni. “If he even exists.”

As she said that, Oliver cracked a smile. “I wouldn’t be offering for you guys to meet him if he didn’t exist, now would I?” 

“Fair enough.” Eric grabbed a slice of bread and ate it with his hands. Sni rolled her eyes. 

“Do you need your bread sliced for you, sir?” Silver asked Tanner with a fake british accent. He held out a piece of bread.

Tanner slapped his hand away. “Stop!” he said with a laugh. “I can cut my own bread, thanks.” 

“Really? I thought your butlers cut it all for you.” Silver held his hands up. 

“Do you really want to be making fun of someone with a knife in their hands?” Tanner asked. He held up a butter knife. 

“Whoa, this isn’t a Denny’s parking lot.” Oliver said. “Save the murder mystery for after the fine dining.”

“Who’s getting killed?” Eric asked with a mouthful of bread. 

“Can it be Silver?  _ Please _ ?” Sni asked. 

“That can be arranged.” Tanner set his butter knife down and took a bite out of his slice of bread. 

Silver started. “Don’t I get any say in this?”

“Of course not!” Oliver grinned. “That’s the fun part, isn’t it?”

“How is that fun for anyone?” He indignantly took a bite out of his own bread roll.

Their server came up to them a few moments later. “What can I get for you guys today?”

Tanner was the first to order. “Could I get the lasagna?”

Silver raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t think you’d be that kind of guy. But I’m getting the lobster.” 

“Wow! Fancy!” Oliver said. “I’ll have the salmon. Please.” 

“The steak is fine, for me.” Sni said. The server nodded and collected their menus before leaving. 

“Can you tell us  _ anything  _ about him?” Eric asked as he turned to Oliver.

“Who?” Oliver asked with a grin.

“Oh, come on. You know what I mean.”

“Don’t you already have a boyfriend? Back off.” Oliver rolled his eyes. Eric turned a bright shade of red. The group laughed. “Go kiss about it.”

Tanner hoped this wasn’t a taboo topic for Eric. He eyed him over tentatively.

“We had a bet on how long it would take, you know.” Silver said. 

“Silver!” Sni elbowed him, but he ignored her.

“I won, by the way. And Sni lost. She said it would be like, five days I think?”

“What?” Tanner asked. “When was this?”

“Like, maybe a day into the trip?” Sni murmured. “You two are terrible at being subtle.”

Eric had his head in his hands. “How many people were in on it?”

Oliver was grinning from ear to ear. “Everyone, basically. Even Abby. Sucrose was really sad that she had to go home and miss it.”

“But you two really are cute. If not kind of gross.” Silver added. 

Tanner and Eric looked away. 

“Aw, come on, don’t be embarrassed! We’re just teasing.” said Oliver. 

“So, are you two like, a thing now?” maybe Sni was being too forward. Or at least Tanner seemed to think so.

They looked at each other. It was still a little awkward.

“Yes…?” Eric said, posed as a question. Tanner beamed. “Yes.” Eric repeated, this time with finality.

“Gross!” Silver rolled his eyes, cutting through the tension without tact. “You could do so much better, Eric.” he teased. “I’m a lot hotter.”

“You wish!” Tanner bumped Silver with his shoulder. 

“Neither of you are hot.” Oliver groaned. 

“Speak for yourself.” said Eric. He made eye contact with Tanner and Tanner blushed. 

“Gross!” Sni made an obligatory gagging motion. “Seriously? Right in front of my salad?”

“You don’t even have a salad. That doesn’t even work.” Tanner said. 

“I had to!” she shrugged. “When is our food coming, anyway?”

“Be patient. We’re in no hurry.” Silver cut his bread like a steak and ate it with a fork. Eric made an indescribable face of disgust.

“I should’ve stabbed you when I had the chance.” Tanner muttered, also disgusted. 

“Whoa!” Oliver held his hands up. “What did I tell you guys about murder?”

Tanner sighed like a little kid. “Not to do it until after dinner?”

“That’s right.” Oliver said sternly. “I want to kill Silver as much as the rest of you guys-”

“Sorry, what?” Silver cut in.

Oliver continued. “I want to kill Silver as much as the rest of you guys, but we’re definitely going to get arrested if we do it here.” 

“Are we  _ actually  _ considering killing Silver?” Eric asked.

“I sure hope we are!” Sni replied. “After dinner, you are  _ done _ .” she said to Silver. 

“I hope this dinner lasts forever.” Silver muttered. He scooted his chair slightly away from the group. 

Their food arrived and was set down on the table. Wafts of steam floated above the dishes, hissing quietly. The group began to eat.

“Wow!” Eric said in between bites. “This is really good!”

“Will you say the same when you see the bill?” Silver muttered.

Sni elbowed him. “We have more than enough to afford this. We planned for like, 20 people to eat dinner tonight. So unless you eat that much…”

“Knowing Silver?  _ Maybe _ .” Tanner muttered. 

“Look who’s talking! Why don’t you get your butlers to make us food?”

Tanner put his head in his hands. “That joke was never funny.”

Sni snorted. “If it makes you embarrassed, it’s funny.” 

“Hey, don’t try to get out of this.” Eric pointed his fork towards Silver as menacingly as possible. “We’re still going to kill you later.”

“You’re not being serious!” Silver cried. He looked down sadly at his lobster.

“Legally? We have to say no.” said Oliver. His face was emotionless and unreadable. 

Sni raised an eyebrow. She probably didn’t know if he was being serious either. Regardless, she said nothing and ate her steak. 

A pause.

Suddenly, Silver spoke. “I think I would have liked it if the other mods were here.” he said abruptly. 

The table fell silent. The mood changed significantly.

It wasn’t that it was sad. They’d had more than enough time to be sad. It was the truth of it all. It was a dull weight in their stomachs. It was the fact that they couldn’t change any of it, that they were in a limbo. Tanner knew they were making the most of it, and it  _ was  _ fun, but there was a little thought hanging in the back of his head, that knew that it could be so much better.

Sni tried to find the right words. “Why can’t you like it now?’

“We’re all going to go home soon, anyway.” Silver continued, not seeming to care. “I’m just saying what we were all thinking.”

Why were they having this conversation, anyway? Hadn’t Tanner wasted enough time whining about it to himself like a child? Why couldn’t he just live in the moment?   
He  _ was  _ living in the moment. Or so Tanner thought. So why, then? Why was he scared?

And then he met eyes with Eric and the pieces clicked a little. 

Oh.

Tanner  _ was  _ scared. He knew that much. He was scared that, when he went home, he would be away from Eric. And the past few days felt like years in the making, and he was scared that things would just...go back to normal after all of this. Or what was left of normal. He was scared that maybe...maybe after Eric went home, Eric would change his mind about everything. He was scared that maybe  _ he  _ would change his  _ own  _ mind. Would all of this have happened if there was no lockdown?

If only there was a way to tell.

Eric looked down. There was a cough from the group. 

He moved his hand, ever so subtly. Tanner moved his hand a little closer. Their fingers intertwined like vines, their bodies rotted pillars of old times. 

“Why does it matter?” Eric spoke finally. He looked up and met eyes with Tanner as he spoke. 

“It doesn’t.” Silver replied. “I was just saying.”

Eric’s eyes flicked briefly over Silver, and then back at Tanner. “There’s no use getting upset over what could have been, I guess.” He was talking to Tanner now. Tanner didn’t know if that was an agreement with Silver or not.

“Why don’t we focus on what  _ is _ ?” Tanner agreed. 

“Right.” Oliver said. “I have a whole week before my flight, I’m begging you guys not to leave.”

“Not like we have a choice.” Sni said with a shrug.

“I checked for flights. Still nothing.” Eric turned to Tanner. “It’s only a matter of time, though.”

God. Tanner hadn’t checked his email. Not since the night before. He thought briefly of his phone buzzing during that moment and felt somewhat angry. He didn’t  _ want  _ to check. But it couldn’t be helped.

“What about you, Tanner?” Silver asked. He turned. “Are you going home soon?”

“I didn’t check.” he replied. “I haven’t had the time to.” That was a half-truth. Tanner  _ didn’t  _ have the time, but he knew the real reason: he was scared. 

Their conversation continued in the background. Tanner felt isolated. 

He turned back to Eric, and whispered in a low tone. “I don’t want to be sent home.” he murmured. It was like a confession.

“Neither do I.” Eric whispered back. “But that’s really not something you can run from.”

And the moving. Tanner thought of the moving. 

He took a breath. “What if- what if, when you go home, you…” he stopped himself. He felt embarrassed. 

Eric blinked. “What is it?”

“Can you guarantee that you’ll feel...this  _ way _ , later?” Later was not the right word for it. Tanner knew that. He was scared of any other option, though.

Eric looked away, briefly. “I can’t guarantee anything, really.” Tanner’s heart sank for just a moment. “But neither can you. I know how I feel right now, and I know that it’s real. So trust me, when I tell you that I love you now. And knowing you…” he swayed their intertwined hands a little. “I  _ will  _ love you later.” 

What was Tanner to say? “I love you, too.” he smiled gently. “I’m still scared, though.”

“Of what? Being sent home?”

“Yes.”

“Wouldn’t you rather know now than later?”

Tanner supposed he did. “I guess. But knowing at all is terrifying.”

Eric cocked his head. “I will love you when you leave. I will love in your absence. And I know that you will love me, too, far away as you will be. So don’t be afraid.”

“But I am. I’m scared that when you move, things will change.” Tanner’s words felt disconnected from the conversation at large.

“Things will change regardless. If you don’t want to move in with me, I understand-”

“I do. I want to move in with you.”

Eric smiled. “-but we’ll figure it out. Things aren’t at a boiling point right now, okay?”

“Okay.”

“We have so much time to talk about this. I promise.” 

Tanner knew he was right. He let his shoulders relax.

“Check your email. For me.” Eric gave Tanner’s hands a squeeze. 

Why were Tanner’s hands shaking? He removed them from Eric’s and reached into his pocket to grab his phone. He turned it on and went to his emails, with Eric peering over his shoulder. His eyes began to read the very first one that popped up.

Tanner’s blood ran cold. The email was from the airline that he’d booked his flights with.

Tanner didn’t even register that he clicked the email. The contents just appeared in front of his eyes. He read it quickly, eyes darting about. He found it hard to retain the info. 

The last part is all that mattered. There was a large digital ticket with a code attached. It had a date as well.

Tanner and Eric met eyes. They turned to the group.

“What is it?” Sni asked. 

“So.” Tanner felt cold. “I’m going home. I got the email two days ago, but I just saw it now.”

The group looked at each other, and then at Tanner. “When?” Oliver asked.

“Two days from now.” 


	12. Chapter 12

Two days. In two days, Tanner would be sent home. There was no telling when he would see his friends again. And even then, it was practically a day and a half, since he’d be leaving on that day anyway. It felt unfair.

Not that he could be all that mad. It  _ was  _ necessary. And he did get the feeling that the trip was coming to a close anyway. But it was almost like the end of a party- yes, it would have to end eventually, but if he had the opportunity, he would have liked to stay a little longer.

Tanner pondered this as he stared at his reflection in the hotel bathroom. It was the following morning. He rubbed what little sleep that he’d gotten out of his eyes.

He thought briefly of the night before, with him and Eric laying in the dark, where they whispered quietly of hardly anything worthwhile-really, they had just repeated the same conversation from dinner. But Tanner didn’t mind. He remembered running his hands through Eric’s hair as they spoke (the thought of which immediately turned him red) and in that moment he was at peace. 

The bathroom lock clicked quietly. Tanner stepped out and eyed Eric, who was on the bed waiting.

“We’re late. Again.” Eric said. He put his phone in his pocket and stood up. 

“Where’s the group?” 

“They say they’re at the lounge.”

“Oh.” Tanner frowned. “So we’re having breakfast with Oliver’s boyfriend, then?”

“Yup.” Eric passed Tanner and opened their door. 

Tanner followed him. “You guys are going to make a horrible impression.”

“Oh, come on.” They walked down the hallway and turned to the elevator area. “It’ll be fun.”

“Your idea of fun is much different than mine.” Tanner punched the elevator button. 

Eric made a pouting face at Tanner. Tanner rolled his eyes. “Don’t say that. Maybe we’ll get to eat donuts again.” They entered the elevator. 

“From where? I’m pretty sure that was a one time thing.”

“We’ll get Abby to buy them.”

“Not a chance. Abby almost got in a lot of trouble when we tried to sneak her out. We’re not doing that again.” 

“Aww.” The elevator doors slid open. Immediately, Tanner could see Silver, Sni, and Oliver gathered around the same table they’d sat at last time. They made eye contact and waved.

Eric sat down. “Where’s your boyfriend?” he asked Oliver.

“What’s your obsession with boyfriends? Is one not enough for you?” Oliver shot back, rolling his eyes. Once again, he had a pile of pancakes, which he took a bite out of as Eric turned red. Sni laughed.

“No, but really, where is he?” Tanner asked as he sat down as well.

“He’s coming.” Oliver said simply. “Go get some food.”

“Sni, you got donuts?” Eric asked.

“What? No.” Sni raised an eyebrow in confusion. Eric sighed and slumped his shoulders. “I could go out and get some, but I really don’t think the hotel would let me.” 

“I want donuts too.” Silver said. 

Sni rolled her eyes. “Okay, well now I’m not getting it at all.” Eric looked heartbroken.

“Go get food.” Oliver repeated. He popped a chocolate chip off the top of his pancake stack and ate it. Tanner shrugged and complied.

By the time Tanner returned, there was a tall stranger sitting at their table. As Tanner sat down, he noticed that the man was about eye level with him. He appeared to be slightly toned.

“Everyone, this is Lance.” Oliver said. Lance gave a little wave.

“His name is  _ Lance _ ?” Silver asked. Sni elbowed him. “Sorry! It just sounds a little old, doesn’t it?”

“Old?” Tanner raised an eyebrow. “It’s hardly old at all.” Silver merely shrugged in response.

Lance cracked a smile. “It’s okay. I’m not offended.”

“So how did you two meet?” Sni asked. 

Oliver and Lance made eye contact. “It’s a funny story.”

“So share it.” Silver rolled his eyes.

Oliver grinned. “All you need to know is that we met here.”

“No, let’s talk.” Sni leaned forward, as if to tease him. “How  _ did  _ you meet?”

Lance looked at Oliver, then at Sni. “We bumped into each other in the hallways.”

“Really?” Eric asked, incredulous. “When did you have time for this?”

“When did you and Tanner have time to get together?” Oliver asked. Lance laughed, and the two linked hands. “In my time off.”

“I never would have guessed that you’d find someone  _ here. _ ” Silver said.

“Yeah.” Eric tilted his head. Him and Tanner locked eyes. “Who would have guessed?”

“Where are you from, Lance?” Sni asked.

“The UK. Just like Oliver!” Lance beamed. 

“So you two will be sent home together, I’m guessing?” Silver swished the orange juice in his glass.

“That’s the plan! Funny story actually. The first time we met, we found out that we were from the same area. We did some talking and found out that we were on the same flight home.”

Tanner felt a soft pang in his chest as Lance said that. He found himself subconsciously reaching for Eric’s hand. 

“Wow, lucky you!” Sni smiled. 

“What brings you to New York, Lance?” Eric asked. He gave Tanner a little squeeze, as if to wordlessly quell him. 

“A photoshoot.”

“Oh!” Sni leaned forward. “Are you a model?”

“A photographer, actually.” 

“Really?” Silver teased. “What’s a photographer doing with muscles like those?”

Lance flexed a little bit. “What can I say? The cameras are heavy.”

“I don’t buy that for a second.” Eric said. “But that’s pretty cool! What kind of photography do you do?”

“Mostly fashion, but I was also planning on doing some landscape photography as well.”

“You should show us your work sometime.” Tanner said. 

“I’d love to!” Lance said with a grin. “I actually took some of Oliver, you might like that.”

“Ooh!” Sni’s eyes lit up. “Oliver, I didn’t know you were a model.” 

Oliver smiled. “I am now, I guess.”

“Now I  _ have  _ to see these pics.” Eric said.

“Yeah, I was planning to go out today and take some pictures of Times Square, but obviously that’s not happening. But I did get to take some pictures in my hotel room.”

“He’s adaptive!” Sni said with a grin, making eye contact with Oliver. 

“Do you have any with you?” Silver asked. 

“Yeah!” Lance unzipped his black bag next to him and delicately pulled out a large professional-looking camera. “I took a lot. Here.”

He presented the camera screen to the group. Onscreen was an HD photo of Oliver posing, with the city in the background.

“Oliver!” Sni said, surprised. “You have natural talent.”

“Right?” Lance asked, grinning from ear to ear. “He’s so good at it.” Oliver smiled quietly.

“Sorry to hear that your plans were ruined, man.” said Tanner. “At least you got to do a little photography.”

“Yeah, it kinda sucks. But I’ve got some good pictures.” he pressed a button and the screen displayed a few pictures of the city. There was one at the airport as well. “I have a week. I really don't know what I’m gonna do for that long.”

Tanner squeezed Eric’s hand again, looking for assurance. They didn’t say anything, but Eric unlinked hands for just a moment, moving his arm to Tanner’s bouncing leg. Tanner took a breath and stopped shaking. 

“You should hang with us!” Eric volunteered. 

“I would love to.” Lance put his camera away. “I don’t think we can really go anywhere, but it beats being alone.”

Tanner felt a little jealous. But it wasn’t Lance’s fault. It was no one’s fault, really. 

“You know, Oliver said you were a busy person.” said Sni.

“He did?” Lance looked surprised. 

“Yeah, he said you couldn’t meet us because you had stuff to do.” In the background, Oliver looked mutinous. 

“Really?” Lance made eye contact with Oliver, who shrugged. “Why would he do that? I’ve been begging to meet you for like, ages.” 

“Well, I’m glad we did.” Tanner said with a smile. Lance beamed at him. “But Oliver, why  _ did  _ you do that? Is it maybe because-”

“Don’t start.” Oliver rolled his eyes. 

“Is it maybe because you didn’t want us to meet Lance?” Tanner raised his eyebrows. 

Oliver didn’t answer. He picked at his pancakes. 

“Aww, why?” Sni frowned. “He’s so nice.” 

“So maybe I didn’t tell the truth. Fine.” Oliver set his fork down. “I felt like lying, okay?”

“I seriously doubt that.” Eric murmured. Oliver elbowed him. 

“What are you guys planning on doing, anyway?” Lance asked, probably trying to steer the conversation a different way. 

“We don’t know yet. You know, one time we went to the pool.” said Silver.

“And the gym.” whispered Sni. 

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he asked. “Was that like a one time thing, or?”

“Well, it might be, but I wouldn’t mind going back.” Silver said with a shrug.

Tanner frowned. “Your opinions are not universal. I really don’t think working out is a fun activity to do with friends.” 

“What would you rather do, then? Watch  _ Cats  _ again?”

“Oliver forced us to watch  _ Cats (2019) _ .” Sni explained to Lance. 

Lance scrunched his eyebrows. “I’m not surprised.”

“Wait, what?” said Tanner. 

“I sent him the copy on google drive.”

The group looked at each other in disbelief. “You’re kidding.” Eric said.

“Yeah, we watched it together like the first time we met. Oliver really liked it.” 

“So you’re saying...all that torture was because of  _ you _ ?” Sni asked. 

Lance started to backtrack. “Well, no. I thought it was a good movie. I didn’t know he showed it to you guys.” he paused. “From what I can tell, I’m guessing you guys didn’t like it.” 

Sni turned to Oliver. “I think I like him a little less now.” Lance looked hurt.

“You’ll have plenty of time to like him. A week at most.” Oliver said. 

“You’ve got to meet the other mods, Lance.” Silver added. “They’d love you.”

“The other mods..?” Lance turned to Oliver for guidance. 

Oliver shrugged. “We’re twitch streamers. Most of us. I’m a moderator for Eric.” 

“Ah.” Lance nodded. “Streamers, huh? Is that going well?”

“Sure is!” said Tanner with a grin. “I’m full time.”

“Full time? Like, it’s your job?”

“Yup.”

“ _ Really _ ?” Lance looked amazed. “I’d think a full time streamer would live in like, Los Angeles or something.”

“Oh no, I live in Canada. But…” Tanner intertwined fingers with Eric under the table. “That might change in a little bit.” he didn’t feel as afraid when he said that. It wasn’t as scary anymore. 

“Good for you! That sounds really cool. Did you guys like, stream anything you did here?”

“Nah. We took a week off.”

“Huh. Will you have to extend that?”

“Actually, no.” Tanner shifted in his seat. “I’m...going home tomorrow.” he looked to the side just a little bit as his voice trailed off. 

“Oh.” Lance could tell he was somewhat uncomfortable. “Well, the sooner you get home the sooner all of this quarantine stuff is over. “

“Yeah.” Tanner turned his head away from Lance and locked eyes with Eric, who appeared sympathetic. “It’s okay, I’m kind of ready to go home.” he attempted a dry laugh. 

Lance tilted his head. “I don’t think I believe that.” he said softly. He didn’t seem like he knew what to say. Then, “If it helps any, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Tanner turned to him. “Really. From what I can tell, you guys are gonna be just fine.”

Tanner softened. “Thank you.” he said gently. Lance nodded kindly. 

“We should do something fun after this.” Oliver piped up. “How do you feel about going to the pool again?”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit.” said Lance. 

Silver laughed. “Neither did we! Actually, we might not want to take Lance to the pool. We can be kind of rowdy.”

“Oh no, that’s fine with me!” Lance said with a smile. “It could be fun.” 

“It’s settled, then.” Sni clapped her hands. “We’ll go to the pool in say, an hour?” 

“Sounds good to me.” Oliver finished off what was left of his pancakes. The group disbanded shortly afterwards. 

Back at their room, Tanner sank onto the bed and threw his head back as he fell backwards, fanning his arms out and letting a sigh escape his mouth. 

Eric looked at him. “What is it?” 

“Nothing.” he muttered. 

Eric sighed and sat on his side of the bed. “Come on.” 

Tanner made eye contact with Eric, then looked away. “I don’t know. Just thinking about things.”

Eric laid down next to Tanner. They stared at the ceiling. “Come on. It’s your second to last day. We should have fun.”

“I know. And I really want to. I do. But it feels so sudden.”

“That’s how it is, sometimes.” Eric rolled to face Tanner. “I don’t know what’s wrong, but we have plenty of time to talk about it.”

“But we don’t!” Tanner sat up suddenly. “I’m going home by tomorrow, and I don’t know how I’m suddenly supposed to just...start streaming again next week like nothing happened, you know? I just want to spend  _ one day _ not worrying about time catching up to me.” he turned to Eric. “And I’m sorry to put all of this on you, I know it’s not your fault.”

Eric looked down. “Why does it need to be anybody’s fault?”

“It’s not! I’m sorry about worrying you, I’m sorry about complaining all the time-“

“Hey.” Eric sat up as well. He gently placed a hand on Tanner’s face. “You don’t need to be sorry. It’s okay. I care about you.” Eric ran a soft finger across Tanner’s lips, drawing close. 

Tanner sighed, shifting a little and wrapping his arms around Eric. “Can you just...promise that we’ll have time to just...talk? Please?”

Eric smiled. “Of course. But first..” he drew back a little. “We have to get ready to go to the pool. All right?”

Tanner brightened. “Yeah.”


	13. Chapter 13

“Gonna be honest, I’m pretty sure this is how we get kicked out.” Tanner said, kicking off his shoes. The group was situated around the pool deck. Lance had awkwardly set up his towel next to the others.

“Did you guys not bring swimsuits?” Lance asked, sitting on a lounge chair. 

“Nope.” said Silver. He pulled off his shirt. “We didn’t expect to go swimming on the trip. It’s New York.”

Lance raised an eyebrow as he looked at Oliver for assurance. Oliver shrugged. “I guess that’s fair.” he said. He pulled his shirt off over his head and dumped it onto his chair. 

Meanwhile, Sni was dangling her legs over the lip of the pool and kicking aimlessly. The water rippled and splashed droplets everywhere.

Silver looked at the others, a mischievous look in his eyes. Eric shook his head, but didn’t say anything as Silver put a finger to his lips and crept towards Sni. 

Suddenly, Silver took a running start towards Sni and planted two hands on her back, pushing her into the water. Sni let out a surprised scream. Water splashed everywhere, including onto Silver.

Silver spat out some water and coughed as he pushed his sopping wet hair out of his face. He looked down at Sni and laughed at her. Sni bobbed miserably in the water, her drenched hair snaking around.

Just as Silver looked up at the others, Sni took the opportunity to wrench his leg close to the edge of the pool. Silver fell almost immediately and screamed; the rest of the group watched as he was dragged clean into the water, nearly slamming into the pool deck as he went. A wave of water rose and fell. 

“I could have died!” Silver spat as he surfaced.

“But you didn’t.” said Sni with a shrug. Silver made a move for her and she dove underwater. Ripples of water formed at the surface as they tussled.

“All right, let’s break it up.” Tanner said. He stood up and walked to the edge of the pool, making a three point entry into the water. Tanner submerged himself and surveyed the damage: Sni was kicking under the water while Silver not-so-playfully wrestled her down. He made a break for Silver and pulled him off, lifting them both up to the surface.

Silver spat out a gasp of water. “Get off of me!” 

“Let’s not kill anyone. We’re supposed to be making a good impression.” Tanner replied, nodding towards Lance. Lance flashed them an awkward smile and began to walk towards the water.

“Is it cold?” he asked. Lance leaned over the edge and dipped his hand into the water, swishing it about aimlessly.

Tanner scrunched up his face, thinking. “It’s room temperature. Not bad.” In the background, he could hear Sni desperately swimming away from Silver. 

Lance took that as an invitation to enter. He shivered for just a moment as he entered feet first. 

“Your man doesn’t do cannonballs, hmm?” Eric asked Oliver mockingly. 

Oliver rolled his eyes. “Does yours?” He walked up to the edge of the pool and bent his knees a little. With a little swing of his arms, Oliver launched himself forward from the deck and into the water, tucking his knees in as he went. The people in the pool screamed as water splashed everywhere.

“Now no one can run on the deck.” Eric complained. He carefully navigated around the puddles of water and used the ladder to enter the pool.

“What, too scared to do a cannonball?” asked Sni. She was backed against a wall, leveraging her legs upwards and kicking as much water as she could at the approaching Silver. It didn’t keep him at bay for long as he dove underwater and grabbed her from the back before she could react. 

“Let me go!” Sni kicked frantically as Silver dove backwards and took Sni with him once again. 

“Sh...should we help her?” Lance asked as he bobbed up and down.

Eric shrugged. “She’ll live.”

“I really doubt that.” Oliver replied. “Don’t you want to keep your editor?”

Eric made a face. “I have another. It’ll be fine.”

Tanner scoffed. Oliver rolled his eyes and waded further into the pool and towards Sni, diving underwater. What ensued was somewhat obscured, but Oliver surfaced quickly after, holding Sni. She spat out water and opened her eyes.

“See, she’s not dead!” said Eric. Tanner glared at him.

“You enjoying this so far, Lance?” Silver asked. He pushed his hair out of his face.

Lance shrugged, appearing to be a little uncomfortable. “It’s...nice.” He cracked a smile. “You guys are...funny? I guess?”

Eric held his hands up triumphantly. “He thinks we’re funny!” 

Sni rolled her eyes. “I would hope so. If you weren’t funny, no one would watch you stream.” She was met with a splash of pool water. 

“I’d love to watch one day.” Lance said, as politely as he could muster. The group exchanged mixed looks.

“His online alias is PointCrow.” Oliver said immediately, before the group could decide what to do. “You should watch. It’s very fun.” he made direct eye contact with Eric, who appeared to be somewhat conflicted.

“Yeah, I’m kinda a big deal.” Eric replied after some thinking. “Tell you what, if you come watch a stream, tell me you’re watching in chat, I’ll introduce you.”

“Oh.” Lance blinked. “All right, why not?” Oliver raised an eyebrow at Eric.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to tell the chat about Oliver’s new  _ boyfriend _ .” Eric looked directly at Oliver, speaking a little louder than normal. Lance appeared confused but unphased. 

“Yeah, you should come watch me too. I’m Smallant. I’m kind of a  _ bigger  _ deal than him.” Tanner added, bumping Eric’s shoulder. Eric glared at him. 

“I think I heard you mention that.” Lance tilted his head. 

“He’s only a little bit more of a bigger deal.” argued Eric. He attempted to shove Tanner’s head underneath the water. It didn’t work. 

Tanner locked his elbow around Eric’s neck and used his other hand to shove him underwater. “I’m a  _ much  _ bigger deal.” he corrected, not acknowledging the flailing Eric.

Sni eyed Eric with a hint of concern. Oliver attempted to get her attention. “He didn’t try to save you, leave it.” she nodded and looked away. 

“Hey, I thought we were trying to not kill anyone.” Silver swam over to the others. “You don’t seem to take your own advice.” 

Tanner shrugged. “I think you’ll make an exception just this once.” He let go of Eric’s neck and let him surface.

Eric coughed and shook his head like a dog as he struggled to breathe. “Fucking-” he choked out as he attempted to turn to Tanner. Then, in an abrupt motion, he dove for Tanner with two hands outstretched. They both went down, with Eric pushing Tanner backwards into the water.

Tanner flailed, clearly unprepared for a full-on frontal assault. He could barely keep his eyes open underwater. From what he could tell, Eric was on top of him, pushing him as far down onto the pool floor as he could. He grabbed what he assumed was Eric’s waist and wrapped his arms around it, flipping them over so Tanner was now the one on top. He lifted his head out of the water and gasped for air. Eric wriggled out of Tanner’s grip and surfaced separately. 

“What was  _ that  _ for?” asked Tanner indignantly.

“What do you  _ think _ ?” Meanwhile, the rest of the group was cracking up laughing. “Anyway, it’s not true. Whatever he said, he’s not that big of a deal.” Eric turned to Lance, who was also laughing.

“I’ll take your word for it.” said Lance. 

“You shouldn’t.” whispered Tanner. 

“It’s hard to believe you two are even into each other.” Oliver rolled his eyes. 

Lance bobbed around a little bit. “I used to swim a little bit when I was younger.”

“ _ Really?”  _ Sni swam close. “A man of many talents.” 

Lance chuckled a little. “I guess you could say that. It’s been a while since I’ve swam seriously, but I can still do the strokes and stuff.”

“Would you say that you’re good enough to beat us?” asked Silver. He made a show of stretching. 

“Would you like to try?” Lance tilted his head.

“Would I!” Sni swam to a lane and gripped the edge of the pool. “How many laps?”

“Uh, one?” asked Eric. “I don’t think any of us are distance swimmers.”

“That you know of.” whispered Tanner. Eric elbowed him. 

“All right.” said Lance. He swam to his own lane and got ready to push off. “On three?”

“Hey, how come  _ you  _ get to dictate when to start?” Silver complained. “I want to do that.”

“Come on, Silver.” Oliver rolled his eyes. “Be polite.” 

“Fine.” Silver turned to the wall and was silent.

“Okay.. 1, 2, 3!” the group pushed off the wall in sync. Tanner took a quick breath before he submerged himself. It was blurry under the water. All he could see was the other end of the pool. Tanner wasn’t sure whether to put in a lot of effort, or take it easy just to be polite. Regardless, he decided it wasn’t worth exhausting himself and opted to swim with 80% effort.

Tanner reached the other end of the pool without too much difficulty. He hadn’t taken the time to see how the others were doing, but once he got to the wall he noticed the group was arguing.

“I was first!” said Silver. 

“He’s lying! I saw him touch the wall after me!” argued Eric. Oliver rolled his eyes. 

Sni pulled on Tanner’s arm. “You saw them, right?”

“Uhh…” he hadn’t. 

“It was Eric. Right?” 

“Oh, shut up.” Silver snapped. “He’s gonna choose Eric because he’s his  _ boyfriend _ .”

“You’re just jealous because I got with him before you.” Eric retorted. Sni burst into laughter.

“I could do  _ so  _ much better.”

“Wow!” Tanner said, a little hurt. 

Silver shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s the truth.” 

“I don’t see  _ you  _ pulling any guys.” Eric butted in.

“And I’m sure your flirting game is so good.” Tanner listened to the two bicker and shook his head as they exchanged blows. Oliver swam over to Tanner, with Lance in tow.

“Lance won, by the way.” he said to Tanner. Lance nodded with an amused grin. “Like, it wasn’t even close. They were too focused on beating each other to notice.”

“I’m not surprised.” Tanner replied. “Nice swimming, Lance. I’m sure you’d be amazing on a team.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Lance scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m pretty out of shape.”

“That makes it so much worse. The fact that you could outpace us while out of shape is impressive. And kind of embarrassing for us.”

Lance laughed. They turned to Eric and Silver.

“-just admit you’re jealous. Admit it!” Eric yelled, his hand firmly gripping the pool wall.

“Ha!” Silver laughed. “As  _ if _ . I’m ten times better than you at swimming. I’m much smarter than you’ll ever be.”

“ _ Excuse  _ me?” Eric leaned close. “I’ll have you know-”

“Their arguing is giving me a headache.” Oliver pinched the bridge of his nose. Eric’s impassioned yelling continued in the background.

Lance looked up and tilted his head. “Is that a hot tub?” He asked. 

Oliver looked over. “Yup.” he looked at Lance and Tanner. “Are we on the same page here?”

Lance grabbed the pool ledge and hoisted himself up, lifting one leg out of the water and then the other. He looked at the other two, sending them a silent invitation.

Oliver hopped out of the pool and Tanner followed suit. Sni raised an eyebrow at them, but said nothing. Eric and Silver appeared unaffected.

Lance was the first to enter the bubbling water. He didn’t hesitate to step in, not even flinching at the change in temperature. “Wow, this is great.” 

“Isn’t it like, super hot?” asked Oliver. Lance shrugged.

“It is. Isn’t that the whole point?” 

Tanner snorted. “I guess so.” He and Oliver shared a look of mild interest. 

Oliver was the next to enter. He immediately slid in next to Lance. Lance, without missing a beat, put one arm over Oliver’s shoulder.

Tanner rolled his eyes at the two of them and looked back at the pool. At this point, Sni looked pretty fed up with the two boys. He walked back to the edge of the pool and crouched down to talk to Sni.

“You got room in that hot tub for one more?” she asked.

“Of course.” he jerked his head back in a “come on” motion. Sni grinned and climbed out.

Tanner looked down at Eric. He grabbed Eric’s arm and pulled. Eric yelled in surprise. He was so enveloped in arguing with Silver that he didn’t even notice Tanner. Eric was pulled a few inches out of the water.

“We’re going to the hot tub, come on.” Tanner said with a grin. Eric looked up at him and smiled. Tanner helped pull him out of the pool and they both walked towards the hot tub. 

“Hey, what about me?” protested Silver, suddenly without a rival.

“You can get out yourself.” Tanner replied, not looking back. Silver grumbled and used the ladder to exit the pool.

“Hey, I remember this.” Eric said as he and Tanner entered the tub at the same time. 

“Oh, really?” Tanner joked. 

“Yeah. Wow. We’re really back where we started, huh?” Sni and Silver got in on the opposite side.

“Is this how you thought you would end your trip, Tanner?” Sni asked.

Tanner scrunched up his face. “I don’t think so. But to be honest, I really didn’t think any of this could happen.” Like Lance, he took an arm and draped it over Eric, who laughed and scooted closer. The hot tub bubbled happily.

“I’m really glad it did.” said Lance. “I never would have met you guys.” he tilted his head with a smile. “You guys are pretty cool.”

“He thinks we’re cool!” Silver’s face lit up. Everyone laughed. 

“You know, as sad as it was that all of this happened, I’m really glad things turned out the way they did.” Oliver said. 

“Me too.” Sni agreed.

“Even  _ Cats _ ?” Lance asked.

“Even  _ Cats _ .” Sni nodded.

“Okay, I don’t think I was grateful for  _ Cats _ .” said Silver. Eric nodded vigorously.

“So what are you planning to do when you get back home?” Lance asked Tanner.

“Sleep. A lot.” the group laughed. “Oh yeah, and maybe move to a new place with someone. I don’t know.” he looked at Eric, who was grinning wildly. The others exchanged interested oohs. 

“I’m going apartment hunting soon.” Eric added. The group’s oohing intensified. “I think I have a few ideas.”

“That sounds really cool. I’m happy for you two.” Lance said with a smile. 

They sat in silence for a moment. There was a splash from Sni. 

“What was that for?” Eric asked. Sni shrugged.

“We’re not doing this again.” Silver replied immediately. He jumped out of the tub. “I’m going back to the hotel room. My fingers are getting all raisin-y.” Sni looked hurt, but climbed out to follow him.

“Us too.” Oliver said. Lance nodded. “This has been great, but my fingers look like prunes.” They grabbed their towels and began to dry themselves. Tanner didn’t move from the hot tub and neither did Eric. Eric gently leaned his head against Tanner’s shoulder and closed his eyes. For a few moments, the only sounds were the bubbling of the water and the exiting of the other people.

Tanner watched the slow rise and fall of Eric’s chest and gently traced the lines of his face. Eric’s face was calm and smiling as he leaned, his closed eyes indicating his peaceful rest.

“Tanner?” he said. Tanner was surprised by Eric’s voice at first. 

“Yes?” Tanner replied. 

“Don’t you want to stay like this forever?”

What a strange question. He took a moment to consider it. 

“Kind of, yeah.” He ruffled Eric’s wet hair affectionately. Eric shook his hair like a wet dog, prompting a laugh from Tanner. “But we’d boil in here. Like soup.”

Eric laughed. “We’re not soup. We’re humans.”

“You know what I mean.” Tanner elbowed him.

“I know.”

There was another pause.

“I’m kinda gonna miss this.” said Tanner.

“Me too.” Eric shifted to bury his face in Tanner’s neck. “I don’t know what we’d be doing around this time, if COVID hadn’t shut everything down.”

Tanner leaned his head on Eric’s. “Hopefully something similar. Some place...similar to this. At least I’d like it to be.”

“You really ready to go home?”

“Of course.” Tanner stopped leaning on Eric to look at him. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know.” Eric shrugged. “You didn’t want to go home before.”

“Yeah.” Tanner turned to look at the window. He watched the clouds pass. “I did, at first. But you know…” he turned to Eric once more. “It was because I was afraid that leaving meant abandoning you. And now I know that I’m not abandoning you. Not anymore. Not any time. And no amount of distance is going to change that.”

Eric turned so that he was facing Tanner. “I just want to say, that if you don’t want to move in with me, you can tell me right now.” His face was so serious, it was almost scary. 

“No, I do.” Tanner gently touched Eric’s hand under the water. Eric smiled.

“And if you change your mind later, I’ll understand. Promise.”

Tanner leaned forward and kissed him. It was instinct. He backed up. “I won’t.”

Eric appeared a little surprised, but pleasantly so. “All right.” he turned away and began to climb out of the tub. The water splashed against the pool deck, echoing in the empty room. “Now come on. I’ll help you pack.” He turned back and held his hand out to Tanner. “Are you coming?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's not over just yet


End file.
